Brookfield Asset Management CEO Connor Teskey Talks Private Credit

Summary

Bloomberg Talks: Brookfield Asset Management CEO Connor Teskey Talks Private Credit
Episode Date: March 3, 2026
Guest: Connor Teskey, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management
Host/Interviewers: Bloomberg Team

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Episode Overview

This episode features a high-level conversation with Connor Teskey, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management, recorded during the Bloomberg Invest conference. The discussion revolves around the attractiveness and evolution of private credit markets, Brookfield’s global investment strategies in light of geopolitical events, the distinctions within the credit market, and the impact of AI-driven infrastructure demand—specifically data centers. Teskey shares insights on risk management, the importance of long-term thinking, and why Brookfield remains bullish on renewable energy, infrastructure, and private credit, even amid volatility in global markets.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Leadership Transition at Brookfield (00:52 - 01:20)

• Connor Teskey describes the transition to CEO as “thoughtful, methodical, incremental,” giving credit to former CEO Bruce Flatt and the senior leadership team.
  • Quote (00:59):
    “Very little [has changed]. At Brookfield, we run a lot of businesses... The transition was very thoughtful, methodical, incremental. Nice to get the announcement out of the way and just back to business as usual.” — Connor Teskey

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2. Macro Environment & Geopolitical Volatility (01:20 - 03:11)

• The host addresses heightened global volatility, referencing recent Middle East tensions and asking if Brookfield is reconsidering strategy.
• Teskey emphasizes their long-term investment philosophy:
  • Quote (01:51):
    “We’re very long-term investors...assets that produce cash across a cycle, they're downside protected, they're inflation linked. So we will take a very, very long-term view.”
• Geographic instability (Iran/Israel) doesn’t alter their conviction in regional investments, especially since partnerships like the $20B venture with Qatar focus on critical infrastructure.
  • Quote (02:44):
    “When something like the past weekend happens, the focus is on our people...and then our focuses are on the assets. And those are all performing.”
  • Quote (03:37):
    “We tend to have durations far beyond single administrations, political parties, individual leaders. And therefore, we focus on the fundamentals.”

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3. Focus on Private Credit & Market Fundamentals (04:03 - 06:07)

• Brookfield manages significant assets across real estate, infrastructure, renewable power, and credit.
• Teskey distinguishes between credit, private credit, and direct lending:
  • Credit markets are “in very good shape”; corporate balance sheets are strong; banks and capital markets are liquid.
  • Private credit for Brookfield means asset-backed lending, real asset lending, and opportunistic credit—all seeing strong fundamentals.
  • Direct lending is a smaller, riskier subset: some concerns exist around tightening spreads and liquidity, but it's “a very small component of the broader credit market.”
  • Quote (04:32):
    “Credit, private credit and direct lending are almost used synonymously...and they represent very different things...Our private credit focus is on three things: asset-backed lending, real asset lending, and opportunistic credit.”
• Regarding risks, Brookfield has de minimis exposure to the riskiest sectors and is positioning to benefit from trends like AI.

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4. Oaktree Partnership & Contrarian Strategies (05:32 - 06:07)

• Brookfield’s full partnership with Oaktree is highlighted as a strategic move to harness expertise in contrarian credit investing.
  • Quote (05:50):
    “We’ve recently announced our full partnership with Oaktree, a very contrarian credit investor that’s extremely well placed to go to work in this environment.”

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5. Liquidity & Perpetual Credit Vehicles (06:07 - 07:19)

• Teskey distinguishes between issues of credit quality and vehicle liquidity.
• He sees perpetual credit vehicles as “great long-term,” offering private market exposure to more investors, but emphasizes the need for proper management and understanding of liquidity requirements.
  • Quote (06:53):
    “Perpetual credit vehicles...need to be managed, they need to be invested appropriately, and they...need to be executed in a way that is thoughtful given the liquidity requirements they will have over time.”

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6. Private Markets for Broader Investor Base (07:07 - 07:54)

• Expanding private markets to wider investor pools remains a core theme.
• Private markets offer diversification, exposure to growth themes, and historically premium returns.
• The importance of structure, management, and investor understanding are underscored.
  • Quote (07:19):
    “Private markets offer an incredible opportunity for investors of all types...when they are offered to the individual investor, it needs to be through a structure that is well understood on both sides.”

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7. AI & Data Centers: Infrastructure Opportunity (08:16 - 08:59)

• The surge in AI is driving unprecedented demand for data centers.
• Brookfield sees demand from “the largest, highest quality credit counterparties” such as leading global corporations and sovereigns—creating a significant opportunity for productivity enhancement.
  • Quote (08:28):
    “The demand is being driven by the largest, highest quality credit counterparties...this is creating what is going to be a productivity enhancement for economies and businesses going forward.”
  • Quote (08:59):
    “Nothing slowing down.”
    — Teskey’s succinct assessment of AI/data center investment momentum.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Brookfield’s long view:
  “We tend to have durations far beyond single administrations, political parties, individual leaders. And therefore, we focus on the fundamentals.” (03:37)

• On risk exposure:
  “We’ve been very cautious and incremental about our exposure to the headlines...What’s more important is we’ve positioned our entire business to be a net beneficiary from AI penetration.” (05:32)

• On private credit for everyday investors:
  “When they are offered to the individual investor, it needs to be through a structure that is well understood on both sides and is managed appropriately from both an investment and a liquidity standpoint.” (07:19)

• On the data center/AI boom:
  “It needs large-scale capital. It needs operating expertise across energy, real estate and digital infrastructure. We’re excited because we think there’s a big role for us to play.” (08:28)

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Segment Timestamps

• Leadership Transition: 00:52 – 01:20
• Global Macro Volatility / Middle East: 01:20 – 03:11
• Regional Opportunity & Iran: 03:11 – 04:03
• Credit Market Overview: 04:03 – 06:07
• Oaktree Partnership: 05:32 – 06:07
• Credit Quality vs. Liquidity / Perpetual Vehicles: 06:07 – 07:19
• Private Markets Expansion: 07:07 – 07:54
• Risk Management & Individual Investors: 07:54 – 08:16
• AI & Data Center Investment Trends: 08:16 – 08:59

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Tone & Takeaways

The conversation is forthright, confident, and grounded in a philosophy of patient, risk-managed, long-term investing. Teskey is optimistic about private markets, especially as AI and infrastructure trends accelerate, but is careful to distinguish between different asset types and stress the importance of proper structure and risk controls for broader investor participation. The partnership with Oaktree and a notable emphasis on the continued buildout of data centers underscore Brookfield’s forward-looking strategy in a rapidly evolving investment universe.

Transcript

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[Bloomberg Audio Studios Announcer]

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[Bloomberg Host]

Want to get right to our first guest? Connor Teske is chief executive officer of Brookfield Asset Management. They've got over a trillion dollars in assets under management touching into many different parts of the investment universe. And he joins us here at Bloomberg Invest. Nice to have you here with us.

[Connor Teske]

Thanks for having me.

[Bloomberg Host]

It's been a while. And you now officially are CEO of Brookfield Asset Management. What's changed in your life?

[Connor Teske]

Very little. At Brookfield, we run a lot of businesses around the world. We like to run those businesses well. We like to run our own business quite well. And full credit to Bruce and the other senior leadership team. This was a very thoughtful, methodical, incremental transition. Nice to get the announcement out of the way and just back to business as usual.

[Bloomberg Host]

All right, so that went as expected. But the world is kind of crazy to say the least. And I think about the volatility we see as a result. We see it playing out to some extent in the markets today, but we do have an environment macro where things can change pretty dramatically. As we saw this this past weekend with us and Israel, the attacks on Iran. So I'm just curious for you, is it too soon to rethink kind of strategies at this point? Like what will it take to maybe say we've got to start rethinking differently about the macro.

[Connor Teske]

We're very long term investors. We focus on long duration assets that are essential and critical in the communities and businesses that they operate in around the world. And these are assets that produce cash across a cycle, they're downside protected, they're inflation linked. So we will take a very, very long term view. And despite the headlines over the last weekend, our focus is on our people who are safe and our assets that are operating. So we continue to look forward and the fundamentals for the key themes we're invest investing in continue to be positive.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Does the, does the geography change at all? And I bring that up because data centers, energy, infrastructure, big investment play for you guys. You teamed up with Qatar Investment authority on a $20 billion venture to invest in air infrastructure how does the war with Iran, the instability in the region, does it change that specific investment at all?

[Connor Teske]

It does not. And again, when something like the past weekend happens, the focus is on our people who are safe, both at Brookfield and our portfolio companies. And then our focuses are on the assets. And those are all performing. When you think longer term about our focus on the region, it's an incredible region. It's got very significant growth. It's got an increasing presence on the, on the world scene. Those are the, like, those are the types of asset classes and geographies that we want to be investing in long term.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Could this make the region even more attractive? Is there an idea? I mean, look, we don't. The President spoke from the Oval Office today. It's obvious that there's not a clear person who is going to take over for the Supreme Leader or with regard to Iran's leadership at all. Nobody knows what's going to happen. But is there a chance that Iran becomes a more stable force in the world and that opens up opportunities for you in the region?

[Connor Teske]

I would say when we think at Brookfield and the types of things we invest in, they tend to have durations far beyond single administrations, political parties, individual leaders. And therefore, we focus on the fundamentals. And when you think about things like data centers, like energy, the two you just mentioned, the fundamentals today are better than ever before. And that's what's going to drive our investment decisions.

[Bloomberg Host]

Kind of one of the things that we love talking with you guys specifically is, I mean, I think about Brookfield asset management. You've got 273 billion in assets under management. When it comes to real estate infrastructure, 247 billion. Renewable power transition, this is something that you, you have been overseeing for a while at the company. 143 billion in assets under management. Credit, 363 billion. Where are you seeing, though, any signs of stress? Are you going to tell me the whole portfolio is fine?

[Connor Teske]

So I think the topical one today is credit. And the first thing we would say is everyone needs to take a step back. Credit, private credit and direct lending are almost used synonymously in today's market, and they represent very different things. Our view is credit markets are actually in very good shape. Corporate balance sheets are strong. Banks are great. Capital markets are incredibly liquid today. Then you can move to private credit. Our private credit focus is on three things. Asset backed lending, real asset lending, and opportunistic credit. All of those are seeing very strong fundamentals. And then there are some concerns in direct lending today. And there are concerns about tightening credit spreads, corporate credit quality deterioration, maybe some concerns about liquidity. It's important to recognize that direct lending is a very small component of the broader credit market.

[Bloomberg Host]

So. But are there any situations that you guys are concerned about or. No, I understand it's a small in

[Connor Teske]

proportion, but we've positioned the business really well over the last few years, and we've been very cautious and incremental about our exposure to the headlines. The themes that are dominating headlines today, whether it be software or retail funds. Well, we have some. It's de minimis. What's more important is we've positioned our entire business to be a net beneficiary from AI penetration. And then the other exciting thing for us is we've recently announced our full partnership with Oaktree, a very contrarian credit investor that's extremely well placed to go to work in this environment.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

We'll get to Oaktree in just a second. One more on credit, though, outside of your portfolio. And what. When you look across the credit landscape, what gives you pause? Not Brookfield's assets, but, you know, out

[Connor Teske]

there in the environment, in the environment today. I think the thing that we look at is sometimes there is issues with underlying credit quality and sometimes there is issues about liquidity in which these credit investments are held. And those two things are very different. And in today's environment, they're sometimes being conflated. There's a lot of talk about perpetual credit vehicles. We think these vehicles long term are great. They offer a unique private market exposure to a wider spectrum of investors that can offer diversification, that can offer growth. But those vehicles are perpetual in nature. They need to be managed, they need to be invested appropriately, and they. They need to be executed in a way that is thoughtful given the liquidity requirements they will have over time.

[Bloomberg Host]

Your understanding and. And Brookfield's understanding of, like the financial markets, this push to kind of spread those things like private credit to a wider investment pool, if you will. Do you think that still makes sense?

[Connor Teske]

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Private markets offer an incredible opportunity for investors of all type. It gives them diversification versus what they can get in the public markets. It can give them exposure to some of the most exciting growth themes that are sometimes difficult to get in public stocks and bonds and historically, private markets have offered a premium return. It comes down to a very simple fact that when they are offered to the individual investor, it needs to be through a structure that is well understood on both sides and is managed appropriately from both an investment and a liquidity standpoint.

[Bloomberg Host]

So understand it's not liquid. So understand what you're investing in.

[Connor Teske]

Understand. And there is an onus on the manager to appropriately manage those vehicles. I'll tell you, from the Brookfield standpoint, we've been very incremental and thoughtful of our growth in this space, at times restricting capital to. To avoid any situations that there could be a liquidity crunch.

[Bloomberg Host]

Can we squeeze in one real quick one about 45 seconds or 60 seconds on AI in terms of the data center build, what do you continue to see? And has anything changed versus what we've seen in the last six to 12 months? You're starting to smile, so I'm assuming.

[Connor Teske]

No. It's exciting. And the reality here is the demand is being driven by the largest, highest quality credit counterparties, the best corporates in the world and the best sovereigns in the world. And this is creating what is going to be a productivity enhancement for economies and businesses going forward. It needs large scale capital. It needs operating expertise across energy, real estate and digital infrastructure. We're excited because we think there's a big role for us to play.

[Bloomberg Host]

So nothing slowing down.

[Connor Teske]

Nothing slowing down.

[Bloomberg Host]

That's pretty amazing. Connor, thank you so much. Really appreciate you taking some time for us.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

You'll have to come back. We didn't have time to touch too much on Howard Marks and Oak Tre, but we can do that another time. So, Connor, thanks a lot. Always good to see you.

[Connor Teske]

Thank you for having us.

[Bloomberg Host]

All right. Connor Teske, of course. Chief executive officer of Brookfield Asset Management here at Bloomberg Investor.

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