Q2 2023 Letter to Shareholders
Q2 2023
Brookfield Corporation Shareholders
The Quarter was Strong
Our business performed well, and cash flows were strong. We announced more than
Our insurance solutions business announced the acquisition of
Our scale, global operations, long-term capital, and deep investment and operating expertise position us exceptionally well in the long run. We remain focused on delivering on our goal of building one of the largest pools of discretionary private capital in the world, enabling our clients and shareholders to eastrong returns while taking moderate risk.
Rate Increases are Creating Volatility but Working
The global economy was resilient in the first half of 2023, supported by strong labor markets and healthy corporate and household balance sheets. The markets experienced volatility caused by the recent
On the other hand, the increase in short-term interest rates is having the desired impact of reducing inflation and slowing the economy, especially in
Liquidity in the bank and capital markets, both in the
Our Operating Results were Excellent
Operating performance across our businesses was strong in the quarter, with each benefiting from strong underlying fundamentals.
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Distributable earnings before realizations were
During the quarter, we invested our distributable earnings into our asset management and insurance solutions businesses and returned
Asset Management - Momentum in our asset management business continues to be very strong. We generated
Insurance Solutions - Our insurance solutions business delivered another strong quarter, with distributable operating earnings of
Operating Businesses - Our operating businesses continue to deliver stable and recurring cash flows, generating cash distributions of
Monetizations Have Been Driven by Non-
Despite an environment with relatively low transaction activity, the benefits of the global diversity of our portfolio were apparent in the quarter, with a number of monetizations that were driven largely by non-
A few sales of note that we signed or closed include:
- A portfolio of office campuses in
India for$1.4 billion , returning a nearly 4x multiple of capital. This is a portfolio we acquired and built over the past nine years and significantly enhanced revenues over our investment period by increasing occupancy and securing higher in-place rents through a very active leasing program.
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The recent sale is strong evidence that high-quality,well-located office assets continue to be attractive investments and trade at premium valuations.
- Our 50% ownership in our mobile network operator in
New Zealand at an implied enterprise value of NZ$5.9 billion. The sale inNew Zealand completes the exit from a business we acquired with a partner four years ago, generating an IRR of 31% and a multiple of capital of 2.6x. - A portfolio of wind and solar assets in
Uruguay for$312 million , implying an over 20% IRR and over 2x multiple of capital over the 6-year hold period. - 12.5% of our
U.S. gas pipeline for an implied enterprise value of$5.3 billion , generating an IRR of over 18% and a multiple of capital of nearly 3x. - A toll road portfolio in
India for$1.1 billion ; a freehold landport inAustralia forA$1.2 billion ; and$374 million ofU.S. gas storage assets.
These sales provide strong support for the carrying values of our assets and the carried interest we project to realize over the next 5 to 10 years, as we continue to monetize existing investments. At the end of the quarter, total accumulated unrealized carried interest was almost
Should we achieve the target retuof each of our current private funds, the potential realized carried interest over the next 10 years is more than
Access to Multiple Sources of Capital Differentiates Us Now More Than Ever
Over the last 30 years, we have by design established access to deep and diversified pools of public and private capital across our organization. Our strong access to capital across the business today is as a result of our approach of maintaining discipline within our capital structures, utilizing in-house capital market teams with deep expertise, and working with our global network of lending relationships built over decades and through many market cycles.
During periods when capital is abundant, the power of these multiple sources of capital may not be as apparent and they may seem time-consuming to understand. However, during periods when capital is scarce, our access to these deep pools of capital differentiates us and enables us to continue to transact where most others are unable to. Today, our access to capital is distinctive and multi-faceted, with strong access to public and private capital across the organization.
Corporate Liquidity
Our goal has always been to maintain significant liquidity at the corporate level in the form of cash, financial assets and undrawn corporate credit facilities, which today stands at
±$60 billion on our balance sheet to enhance our flexibility, and another approximately
We borrow only a modest amount of long duration corporate debt at the Corporation, which today is
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You may recall that one of our key objectives in separately listing our asset management business last year was to further increase our access to capital by creating optionality for us to use BAM shares (either that we own or that BAM could issue), as potential currency for transactions. We recently announced that we plan to use
Operating Businesses
Each of our Operating Businesses are self-funding, with deep access to public and private pools of capital, and in almost all circumstances do not rely on financial support from our balance sheet. Below are just a few examples of more recent capital raises by our Operating Businesses which exemplify the agility of our franchise:
Brookfield Renewable Partners ("BEP"), alongside institutional partners, recently agreed to acquire one of the largest renewable platforms in theU.S. ,Duke Energy Renewables , for approximately$2.7 billion in aggregate-or equity of$1.1 billion . This was acquired in our private infrastructure fund, with BEP taking its proportionate share of the deal. In conjunction with announcing this transaction, BEP raised$650 million from the public equity markets, with our insurance company buying$150 million of shares, and the balance issued to listed market investors.Brookfield Infrastructure Partners ("BIP") recently announced a transaction to take private the world's largest intermodal shipping container owner,Triton International , for$13 billion . As part of the$4.7 billion of equity consideration, BIP committed to issue approximately$900 million of shares. This augmented funding from both our flagship infrastructure fund and strategic co-investors-and enabled us to close the deal.- Our real estate business recently signed a
A$1.5 billion refinancing for a senior living facility inAustralia and closed on a nearly$500 million refinancing of a retail portfolio inDubai . This is a reminder that despite tighter credit conditions in theU.S. , global capital markets remain very much open for the high-quality globally diversified portfolio of real estate that we own.
Asset Management Business
Our asset management business continues to raise a significant amount of third-party capital, raising
In addition, our Manager has deep relationships with clients that have been fostered over many years. One of the keys to our success has been the scale of our overall business, and as a result, we are able to complete transactions larger than any comparable fund could do. This allows us to offer clients significant flexibility, sizable co-investment and strategic investment opportunities. This has proven to be very valuable to our clients and broadened the nature of our relationships.
An example of this is the recently announced approximately
Overall Liquidity
Bringing it all together, each part of our business has a high level of liquidity and strong access to capital. On their own, this provides each with a strong foundation for growth, but when the different parts work together, the scale of what we can achieve is significantly larger. As a result, we have one of the world's largest pools of discretionary
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capital with a balance sheet of mostly liquid assets that from time to time we recycle to support strategic transactions.
The AEL Transaction Showcases the Power of Our Franchise
Two years ago, we set out to build a leading global insurance business. We believed we had the necessary skills to eavery attractive spread earnings on assets in the insurance portfolios, and the perpetual capital base to build and grow this business in order to allow us to eaan attractive retuon our capital while creating further financial flexibility for our overall group.
Since then, we have made good progress on building our next global champion. This is now a business that is already a scale provider of diversified insurance lines in the
In July, our insurance solutions business committed to acquire AEL, one of the largest independent scale annuity platforms in the
With the acquisition of AEL, our insurance solutions business will grow to over
More important than the specifics of the AEL deal itself is that this transaction demonstrates the power of our franchise today. Few investors can execute a deal such as this. The combination of the flexible capital at Brookfield Reinsurance, the scale and perpetual capital base of the Corporation, and the deep investment capabilities of our Manager truly differentiate our franchise.
Value vs. Price
We will end this letter with a final comment on Value investing as it relates to real estate. To ensure we all have comparable terms, Value is what a business or asset is worth based on the future cash flows it will generate. Price is what a business is perceived to be worth, or trades at from time to time, based on prevailing sentiment and other matters. Rarely are Value and Price the same.
Quality real estate is an exceptional long-term asset class which has proven to be that over centuries. It is positively correlated to inflation and therefore protects wealth on a real retubasis. With the rapid increase in interest rates over the past year, many are currently questioning these attributes. There is no doubt that there will be pain for those real estate investors whose financings prepared them poorly for these increases.
In addition, real estate always evolves, and owners must ensure that their real estate is relevant for the end customer. This has always been the case, but with constantly evolving work, life, and consumer habits, it is more true today than ever before. Some real estate does not meet this test and therefore must be repurposed.
We believe that great real estate will endure and adjust, and that these interest rate increases will merely be a blip on the Value of great real estate in the long term. We were reminded of this last month when reading our
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Attachments
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