In the asset management sector, the two most meteoric entrepreneurial success stories of recent decades have undoubtedly been BlackRock and Brookfield-the former with its ETFs, the latter with its alternative management solutions.
The Brookfield empire is based on several pillars: real estate, particularly office space with trophy properties in New York and London; renewable energy; infrastructure; insurance; private equity; and, for the past few years, the now highly controversial private credit segment.
The group's highly complex structure was partially clarified in December 2022 through the partial spin-off of Brookfield Asset Management, its asset management franchise, which is listed independently of the holding company Brookfield Corporation, although the latter retains three-quarters of the capital.
The rationale behind this operation was that the asset management platform's capital-light, highly profitable, and high-visibility model deserved a valuation premium over the holding company—a premium that remained elusive as long as the former was obscured within the latter's Byzantine structure.
Brookfield Asset Management has experienced extraordinary growth in its fee-bearing assets under management (AUM) since 2020, rising from $277bn at the end of 2020 to $563bn by the end of 2025, 90% of which is described by management as "permanent" capital. In this respect, its management fees have doubled from $1.3bn to $2.7bn over the period.
Over the last five years, Brookfield has deployed an impressive capital-raising machine, with five times more additional capital raised in 2025 than in 2020. This was driven notably by a breakthrough among pension funds—which previously favored liquid market strategies over alternative solutions—and, of course, by the private credit segment, which alone accounts for nearly half of the additional fundraising.
Most striking is that Brookfield continues to display outsized ambitions, promising to double its fee-bearing AUM once again to reach $1.2 trillion by 2030. This expansion is expected to stem primarily from its breakthrough in asset management for insurers, which has so far faced no regulatory opposition.
In terms of deployment, the infrastructure, energy, and private equity segments are all expected to double. However, it is particularly in its private credit strategies that Brookfield intends to accelerate at full throttle, notwithstanding the current sulfurous headlines.
Should this plan materialize, distributable earnings to shareholders are expected to double from $1.6bn in 2025 to $3.6bn in 2030. Since Brookfield Asset Management distributes nearly all of this amount in dividends, this would translate into a doubling of the payout within a four-year horizon.
The current yield on Brookfield Asset Management shares exceeds 4%, marking an all-time high, while the operating profit multiple is at an all-time low, even though it still reflects positive growth projections. Notably, Brookfield Asset Management is now valued at the "fair value" assigned to it by management during the late 2022 spin-off.
Proponents of the stock might see this as an opportune entry point. Others, more cautious, will point out that the Brookfield empire has long been criticized for its opaque structure and occasionally creative accounting, blurred notably by inter-subsidiary transactions and other complexities, leading them to remain on the sidelines of both the holding company and the asset management platform.
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