Brookfield Asset Management Taps Connor Teskey for Top Post

Brookfield Asset Management named longtime executive Connor Teskey as its next chief executive officer, formalizing a succession plan that had been years in the making at one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers.

Teskey, who joined Brookfield in 2012 and has served as president since 2022, will take the top job at the asset manager while Bruce Flatt remains chairperson, the Wall Street Journal reported. Flatt will also continue as CEO of Brookfield Corp., the parent company that controls the firm’s sprawling real estate, infrastructure, renewable power and private equity platforms.

The move follows heightened speculation about leadership succession after Flatt added the chair role at Brookfield Asset Management last year, following the departure of Mark Carney, who left to pursue Canadian politics and ultimately became prime minister.

Teskey had long been viewed internally and by investors as the heir apparent. He held a variety of investment and management roles since he first joined Brookfield after handling corporate debt origination at a Canadian bank. He burst on the scene in 2019 when he pitched the idea of Brookfield taking a controlling stake in Oaktree Capital Management, eventually guiding the company to pay $4.8 billion for a 61 percent stake in the firm. That deal made Brookfield a major player in the credit market.

Teskey will keep his other major perches as CEO of Brookfield’s Renewable Power & Transition business and head of Brookfield Renewable Partners, where he oversees investments, operations and global expansion.

Flatt framed the appointment as the next chapter in a multi-year leadership handoff.

“This will set up our next generation of leaders who will guide the company in the coming decades,” he said.

The announcement landed alongside a batch of strong financial results. The firm said it will raise its dividend 15 percent after raising a record $35 billion in the fourth quarter and roughly $112 billion for all of 2025.

Distributable earnings rose to $767 million in the latest quarter, beating analyst expectations, while fee-related earnings jumped 28 percent to an all-time high. Brookfield ended the year with $134 billion in dry powder, including $63 billion poised to start generating fees once deployed.

Brookfield is an aggressive global buyer and seller in real estate.

This week alone, it agreed to buy industrial real estate investment trust Peakstone Realty Trust for about $1.2 billion.

— Holden Walter-Warner