Bruce Flatt

Bruce Flatt joined Brookfield 20 years ago, and was instrumental in rebuilding its property businesses in the early to mid 1990s, the expansion of its renewable power businesses in the early 2000s, the launch of its infrastructure business in the mid 2000s, and the globalization of the operations and asset management thrust over the past 10 years. 

Bruce was appointed CEO of Brookfield Asset Management in 2002 and has overseen the expansion and focus of the company’s franchise into one of the largest global managers of “real” assets, which encompasses far more than real estate.  With 100 offices and 18,000 employees, Brookfield’s capital is sourced from publicly listed entities and private funds for institutional clients. With assets of more than $120 billion, Brookfield is a global leader in property, renewable power, infrastructure, and private equity.  The company has also built ties with some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, investing on their behalf.  

In the early 1990s, Bruce was instrumental in Brookfield becoming the cornerstone investor in the reorganization of the Olympia & York Company, which ranked as the largest real estate bankruptcy in the U.S., until it was topped with the filing by General Growth Properties in 2009.  Brookfield also emerged as the sponsor of this reorganization in early 2009 which led to the recapitalization of this $30 billion premier quality retail shopping mall company (the largest restructuring ever done in the United States) and its current position as a major investor in the company with an approximate 40% interest.

Many of Brookfield’s other businesses have been built on distress purchases, as Brookfield’s business philosophy is to be a value investor with a focus on distress for control investing in the areas where Brookfield has operational expertise. Other notable transactions included a $1 billion purchase of 65 hydro facilities in 2003 from Reliant Energy, as the power markets collapsed and merchant power producers where filing bankruptcy; the acquisition of Babcock and Brown’s Global Infrastructure Group with close to $10 billion of assets in 2008; and various other bankruptcy transactions over the years.

Bruce is a Canadian by background, resides in New York and Toronto, is a director of Brookfield and a number of its affiliates, and has a business degree from the University of Manitoba.

Bruce looks forward to sharing Brookfield’s approach to investing, along with his views on how to create value in turbulent times, with the United Jewish Appeal Real Estate Cabinet community leaders and their guests.

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