Brookfield Asset Management NYSE: BAM reported what executives described as a strong fourth quarter and full year for 2025, driven by record fundraising, elevated investment activity, and growth in fee-bearing capital. Management also used the call to highlight leadership succession, an expanding credit platform, and a push to scale infrastructure and private wealth channels heading into 2026.
Full-year 2025 highlights: fundraising, deployment, and realizations
Chair Bruce Flatt said 2025 featured “continued growth across the business and consistent execution” against the firm’s long-term strategy. Brookfield raised $112 billion of capital during the year and invested a record $66 billion, while monetizing $50 billion of equity from investments “at very good returns,” according to Flatt.
As a result, fee-bearing capital increased 12% year-over-year to more than $600 billion. Flatt said fee-related earnings (FRE) reached a record $3 billion, up 22% from the prior year, and distributable earnings (DE) were $2.7 billion, up 14%. He emphasized that distributable earnings are “almost entirely fee-based” and “long duration,” supported by diversification across asset classes, products, geographies, and client channels.
Management characterized the market backdrop entering 2026 as constructive, citing stabilized interest rates, resilient economic growth, and improved transaction activity as confidence in valuations and liquidity has increased.
Leadership update: Conor Teskey appointed CEO
Flatt announced that, as part of Brookfield’s succession process, Conor Teskey has been appointed CEO of Brookfield Asset Management. Flatt will remain chair of the board and CEO of Brookfield Corporation. Flatt said the process began four years ago when Teskey was appointed president of BAM, and that the “title change merely matches title to substance,” adding that there is “no real transition.”
Investment activity and platform expansion
Teskey said 2025 was not only about raising capital but also about deploying it “at scale” with discipline. He cited a range of investments made across the platform during the year, including:
- Renewable power: investments in Neoen and the acquisition of National Grid’s U.S. renewables platform.
- Private equity: an investment in Chemelex, described as a global industrial technology business with mission-critical products.
- Infrastructure: the acquisition of Hotwire Communications; Teskey also referenced investments including Colonial Pipeline and a portion of Duke Energy Florida.
- Real estate: acquisitions including Generator Hostels and National Storage REIT in Australia.
Teskey said the common thread across investments was a focus on “essential assets and businesses with durable cash flows,” downside protection, and opportunities for operational value creation.
Fundraising: flagship closes, non-flagship breadth, and credit scale
On fundraising, Teskey said Brookfield completed final closings for two flagship funds in 2025: the fifth vintage of its Real Estate Flagship and the second vintage of its Global Transition Flagship. He said both were the largest funds raised in their respective series and exceeded targets, with support from existing investors and new relationships.
However, Teskey emphasized that nearly 90% of 2025 fundraising came from non-flagship strategies, which he said underscored the breadth and durability of the fundraising engine.
A major theme was the continued build-out of Brookfield’s credit platform. Teskey said that, together with the firm’s long-standing partnership with Oaktree and integration of that business, Brookfield is building a broad global credit platform spanning real asset credit, asset-backed finance, opportunistic credit, and insurance-oriented strategies.
He also said Brookfield is preparing for an expansion of its asset management mandate with Brookfield Wealth Solutions following the expected closing of Wealth Solutions’ acquisition of Just Group “in the coming months.” Teskey said three initiatives—acquiring the remainder of Oaktree, the Just Group-related mandate expansion, and credit manager acquisitions completed in the fourth quarter—are expected to generate more than $200 million of incremental annualized FRE.
Financial results: FRE and DE growth, margins, and dividend increase
Chief Financial Officer Hadley Peer Marshall reported that in the fourth quarter, FRE rose 28% year-over-year to $867 million, or $0.53 per share. For the full year, FRE totaled $3.0 billion. FRE margins were 61% in the quarter and 58% for the year.
Marshall noted that Brookfield’s operating leverage has supported margin expansion, but said that buying the remaining stake of Oaktree—described as operating at lower margins—would reduce consolidated margins even though the transaction is “highly accretive” and strategically strengthens the platform. She also said Oaktree’s margins are near cyclical lows due to its countercyclical nature.
Fourth-quarter distributable earnings were $767 million, or $0.47 per share, up 18% year-over-year. Marshall said DE growth continues to closely track FRE growth, reflecting recurring and stable revenue and “limited reliance on carry or transaction-driven income.”
Marshall said fee-bearing capital grew to $603 billion, up $64 billion year-over-year, supported by $75 billion of capital raised that became fee-bearing and $16 billion of previously raised capital deployed that also became fee-bearing.
She also highlighted fundraising in the fourth quarter, which she called the firm’s strongest quarter ever, with $35 billion raised across more than 50 strategies. Marshall detailed fundraising contributions across the platform, including $7 billion in infrastructure (including $5 billion for the AI Infrastructure Fund), $23 billion in credit (including nearly $9 billion from Brookfield Wealth Solutions), and fundraising across private equity strategies including a final close for Pinegrove’s inaugural fund at $2.2 billion.
On the balance sheet, Marshall said Brookfield issued $1 billion of senior unsecured notes in November, comprising $600 million of five-year notes at a 4.65% coupon and $400 million of ten-year notes at a 5.3% coupon. The firm ended the year with $3 billion of corporate liquidity.
Brookfield also announced a dividend increase. Marshall said the board approved a 15% increase in the quarterly dividend to $0.50025 per share, or $2.01 per share annualized, payable March 31, 2026 to shareholders of record on February 27, 2026.
During Q&A, executives addressed potential strategic interest in secondaries (saying Brookfield tracks the space closely and would be opportunistic), expectations for 2026 growth (management said the outlook exceeds its mid- to high-teens plan and cited the $200 million FRE tailwind), and AI-related exposure (the company said software exposure is less than 1% in private equity and none in its credit business). Management also discussed growing private wealth flows, plans to increase Brookfield brand awareness without changing culture, and expectations for supportive guidance related to alternatives in 401(k) plans.
About Brookfield Asset Management NYSE: BAM
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.
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