“We’re number two, we try harder”: How Brookfield is trying to regain the top investor crown

From TRD LA: Brookfield Asset Management would like to be more well known. It just doesn’t want to be too ostentatious about it.

The company, which manages $269 billion worth of assets, has been quietly trying to increase its name recognition and publicity, efforts that CEO Bruce Flatt is spearheading, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“He’s incredibly smart and doesn’t have the herd mentality,” Gray told the newspaper. “So he’ll go to Brazil when no one likes Brazil. He’ll buy distressed assets when things are beaten down.”

When the company fell behind Blackstone Group in an industry ranking of the largest real-estate investors in the world earlier in the year, for instance, Brookfield lobbied the group behind the ranking to make it clearer that its infrastructure investments had not been included.

Associates of Flatt told the Journal that Brookfield’s relative anonymity can be frustrating to the CEO, who is known for his contrarian investments in places ranging from Brazil to the retail-centric real estate investment trust GGP. Brookfield recently made a $15 billion bid to buy the remainder of GGP.

When asked if Brookfield got enough credit for its work, Flatt told the Journal the company was “thrilled with our partnerships we have with our investors and the trust they put in us.” [WSJ] – Eddie Small