Brookfield sees India assets hitting $100 billion in five years

Brookfield Asset Management plans to expand its India portfolio to $100 billion within five years, outperforming the growth of its global assets, company president Connor Teskey said on Thursday.

Brookfield, which has maintained a presence in India for 15 years, manages $30 billion in assets in the country, across infrastructure, real estate, renewable power, private equity, and special investments.

Teskey said Brookfield’s global assets under management (AUM) are more than $1 trillion and are expected to more than double in five years. He said India’s share will grow faster than the global portfolio, with the country poised to become a $100 billion platform for the firm in that same period.

“It is not unreasonable to suggest that in that same five-year time frame, we would triple or quadruple our business here. I very much expect our Indian platform will be a $100 billion business in the near term,” Teskey said.

Teskey, however, noted that while a significant portion of the expansion in India would come through mergers and acquisitions, but organic growth would also play a role. He noted that the growth plan would not change substantially even if India’s GDP growth were to slow to 5.5%.

“It (India) is a large and growing economy. It has a fantastic depth of talent,” he said.

Brookfield’s current India portfolio includes $12 billion each in infrastructure and real estate, $3 billion in renewable power and transition, and $3.6 billion in private equity and special investments.

Key assets include a 1,480km privately-owned cross-country gas pipeline, more than 55 million square feet of office space in major Indian cities, and approximately 43GW of wind and solar assets either operational or in development.

Teskey said Brookfield is focused on sectors such as digital and transportation infrastructure, utilities, midstream energy, and power generation.

“We are long-term investors. We take a long-term approach, and by definition, we are investing in long-term assets,” he said.

Teskey noted that India offers stable interest rates, increasingly liquid capital markets, and consistent demand, both domestic and international.

“The focus for us in every market around the world, in terms of putting capital to work, is that we like markets with stability and we like markets with long duration demand trends. In most asset classes and most sectors in India, you absolutely have those,” he said.