Brookfield defies deal gloom, expects record inflows in 2023

financialpost.com:

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. said it expects to raise US$150 billion this year, bucking the slowdown in the alternative-asset sector.

The Canadian firm posted distributable earnings of US$527 million in the second quarter, or 32 cents U.S. per share, up three per cent from last year, according to a statement Aug. 9. It made 28 cents U.S. a share on a net-income basis.

Brookfield said fundraising should accelerate in the second half, allowing it to reach US$100 billion in inflows to private funds and US$50 billion via its insurance business in 2023. But the firm said little about its efforts to raise cash in its private equity unit, an area of the market that’s facing significant headwinds.

Alternative asset managers that grew rapidly during the cheap-money era are contending with a new environment of higher rates and tighter credit, making leveraged deals more expensive. Added to that, sellers and buyers are often far apart on valuations for private assets.

Still, the Brookfield group sees the current market as rich with opportunity. It emerged as the world’s most acquisitive investment firm in the first half of the year, announcing about US$50 billion of purchases. Last quarter, Brookfield’s renewable power unit agreed to buy a big portfolio of wind and solar farms from Duke Energy Corp. for US$2.8 billion, while its infrastructure arm purchased Triton International Ltd., the world’s largest owner of intermodal shipping containers, for US$13.3 billion including debt.

Brookfield’s energy transition fund also backstopped a US$12-billion deal for Australian utility Origin Energy Ltd.

It ended June with US$440 billion of fee-bearing assets, up two per cent from March. It has a goal of getting that number to US$1