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Brookfield posted solid Q1 growth, with fee-related earnings up 11% to $772 million and fee-bearing capital rising 12% year over year to $614 billion. The company also raised $21 billion in the quarter and said 2026 is shaping up to be its biggest fundraising year ever.
Fundraising was broad-based across Brookfield’s platforms, led by $13 billion in credit inflows, plus gains in infrastructure, private equity and insurance-related capital. Management said partner managers are increasingly adding to earnings growth and that several recent fund closes exceeded targets.
Brookfield sees major tailwinds from AI, energy demand and the Oaktree integration. Management said AI infrastructure and rising power needs are creating large investment opportunities, while the pending Oaktree deal is expected to strengthen the credit platform and expand client offerings.
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Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM) reported higher first-quarter fee-related earnings and said it expects 2026 to be a record year for fundraising, supported by large capital mandates, flagship fund launches and the pending full integration of Oaktree.
Chief Executive Officer Connor Teskey said fee-related earnings rose 11% in the quarter to $772 million, while distributable earnings totaled $702 million. Fee-bearing capital increased 12% over the last 12 months to $614 billion. Brookfield raised $21 billion during the quarter, and Teskey said year-to-date fundraising stood at $67 billion when including fundraising tied to the Just Group mandate and the firm’s flagship private equity fund.
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“2026 will not only be a record year for Brookfield, but one where we expect to exceed our long-term growth targets,” Teskey said. He added that the company continues to expect 2026 to be its largest fundraising year ever.
Chief Financial Officer Hadley Marshall said Brookfield’s $21 billion of first-quarter fundraising was driven by complementary strategies and insurance inflows. The infrastructure business raised $3.4 billion, including $800 million for its Super-Core Infrastructure strategy and $800 million for its infrastructure private wealth strategy. The private equity business raised $1.4 billion, including $1 billion for a private equity special situations strategy.
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Credit fundraising totaled $13 billion, including $4.7 billion from long-term private funds and $3.8 billion from Brookfield Wealth Solutions. Marshall said 17Capital completed the final close of Credit Fund II, adding $2.5 billion in the quarter and bringing the strategy to $7.5 billion, which she described as the largest NAV lending strategy raised to date.
Teskey also highlighted momentum at Brookfield’s partner managers, saying Primary Wave, 17Capital and Pinegrove recently held fund closes that exceeded their targets and were the largest funds of their kind. In response to a question from JPMorgan analyst Kenneth Worthington, Teskey said Brookfield acquires partner managers where it believes it can accelerate growth through its platform, and that partner managers are increasingly contributing to earnings growth.
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Brookfield said it is close to completing its acquisition of Oaktree, which it expects to close in the second quarter. Armen Panossian, Co-CEO of Credit at Brookfield, said integrating Oaktree and Brookfield will simplify operations, improve alignment and expand client access to the combined firm’s capabilities.
Panossian said the strategic benefits of the integration are most significant because clients increasingly want broader investment solutions, including flagship strategies, complementary strategies, customized multi-asset portfolios and co-investment opportunities.
He said credit markets are entering a new phase after years of rapid growth in private credit, higher rates and tighter spreads. Panossian said recent concerns around private credit — including impairments, valuations, leverage, liquidity mismatches, refinancing risk and software exposure — are “legitimate” in select parts of the market, but he described the current environment as more of a recalibration than a systemic issue.
“That creates both risk and opportunity, and it’s exactly the kind of environment in which we thrive,” Panossian said.
During the question-and-answer session, Panossian said Oaktree does not currently see broad macro conditions that would drive meaningfully higher deployment patterns than the past five years. However, he said the firm is watching sector-specific distress in areas including software, building products, chemicals, autos and packaging. If a broader dislocation emerges, he said Oaktree’s deployment capabilities over a 12- to 24-month period could be measured “in the tens of billions.”
Teskey said artificial intelligence is a significant tailwind for Brookfield because AI adoption requires large amounts of physical infrastructure, including data centers, power generation, transmission, fiber, computing, cooling systems and industrial capacity. He said Brookfield is already invested across many of those areas and has leadership positions in data centers and renewable power.
In response to TD Cowen analyst Cherilyn Radbourne, Teskey said AI for Brookfield primarily means AI infrastructure. He cited Brookfield’s partnership with Bloom Energy as an example, saying the $5 billion partnership announced several months ago is already the subject of conversations to expand it “not by percentages, but by multiples.”
Teskey said Brookfield can remain selective despite significant capital flowing into the sector because the investment opportunity set is large. He said the company is focused on the best assets, markets, revenue structures and corporate counterparties.
On energy, Teskey said demand is at an “unprecedented high” and is expected to remain elevated through the end of the decade and beyond. He said meeting that demand will require a broad mix of energy solutions, including low-cost renewables, flexible gas and dependable nuclear.
Marshall said Brookfield’s fee-related earnings over the last 12 months reached $3.1 billion, up 18% from the prior-year period. Distributable earnings over the last 12 months were $2.7 billion. Margins were 57% for the quarter and 58% over the last 12 months.
She said Brookfield will report a consolidated margin including 100% of Oaktree after that acquisition closes, likely in the second quarter. The company also plans to provide more transparency around partner managers. Marshall said partner managers operate at lower margins but are accretive and strategically beneficial, and she expects operating leverage as they scale.
Brookfield also stepped up share repurchases amid market volatility. Marshall said the company bought back $375 million of stock in the first quarter and an additional $200 million so far in the second quarter, bringing total buyback activity over the past seven months to nearly $800 million. She said Brookfield views its shares as meaningfully undervalued.
After quarter-end, the company issued $1 billion of senior unsecured notes, consisting of $550 million of five-year notes with a 4.832% coupon and $450 million of 10-year notes with a 5.298% coupon. Brookfield ended the quarter with $2.5 billion of corporate liquidity.
Teskey said Brookfield is seeing the real estate recovery accelerate, with improving sentiment, stronger financing markets and muted new supply in many sectors. In response to Piper Sandler analyst Crispin Love, Teskey said activity is primarily occurring in alternative real estate sectors such as hospitality, logistics and housing, while office and retail deal volume has been lower.
On office, Teskey said fundamentals are improving because there has been little new supply since 2020, while demand has recovered. He said Brookfield is seeing rent growth in Tier One markets and expects deal activity to return if those trends continue.
Teskey also said Brookfield’s private wealth business has grown from a year earlier, despite concerns around some private wealth credit products in the broader market. He said the firm continues to see inflows into real asset products and expects growth to continue as investors increasingly pivot toward real assets.
Brookfield Asset Management is a global alternative asset manager headquartered in Toronto, Canada, that specializes in investments in real assets and related private equity and credit strategies. The firm acquires, manages and develops assets in sectors such as real estate, renewable power, infrastructure and private equity, seeking long-term value through active asset management and operational improvements. Brookfield structures and manages commingled funds, listed partnerships and separate accounts for institutional and retail investors.
The company's products and services include fund management across equity and debt strategies, direct asset ownership and operations, property and facilities management, and capital markets solutions.
The article "Brookfield Asset Management Q1 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat.
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