MUMBAI: For Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management, India has emerged as the number one investment spot outside its core markets, the US and Europe, and the firm expects to deploy significant amounts of capital here, said Anuj Ranjan, senior managing partner and regional head, Middle East and South Asia, Brookfield.
“From an emerging market perspective it is by far our favourite market today. To put things in perspective, our recent fundraises across our three flagship funds, real estate, infrastructure and private equity (PE), have raised a total of $50 billion. India today is our number one spot outside our core markets. Therefore, of the $50 billion available, if we have the right opportunities, I see no reason why $10 billion could not come here," said Ranjan at the Mint India Investment Summit 2019.
Brookfield has already invested close to $7 billion in India, so it could reach $17-20 billion of assets under management (AUM) in the country, he said. The Canadian investor manages around $350 billion in assets globally.
However, Ranjan said the amount of capital that Brookfield will deploy here will depend on the availability of the right opportunities and there is no country-specific hard allocation of capital.
“We raise global funds and we believe in investing out of global funds, because then we are not necessarily compelled to make investments in any particular jurisdiction. If Brazil is a great place to invest in, we can put capital there, and if Europe is a great place, then we can invest there," he said.
Brookfield has acquired the office and retail assets of Hiranandani Developers Pvt Ltd in Mumbai’s Powai at a valuation of about $1 billion and bought out Equinox Business Park, a commercial property in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex, from the Essar Group for ₹2,400 crore, besides investing in roads and renewable energy.
The investor, which has so far dabbled in real estate, infrastructure and power, has been setting up a team for private equity investments in India and expects to start deploying capital in the PE space. In January, Mint had reported that Brookfield is hiring Apax Partners’ senior executive Aditya Joshi, who has been involved in several key deals, including Healthium MedTech, Zensar Technologies, Chola, Global Logic and iGATE Patni.
“In terms of private equity, we have been building a team and are ready to look at opportunities in the market. We are a large PE shop. Our global PE fund is sitting with $9 billion of capital. We have done large transactions in PE all over the world," Ranjan said.
Brookfield will leverage its strengths and experience from owning assets in the real estate and infrastructure sectors for its PE practice, Ranjan said.
“Through these businesses we have become quite substantial in certain spaces and there are ancillary businesses, in services or industries, that are adjacent to these businesses. So, when you own 28 million sq. ft of office in the country, or when you own a $1.3 billion roads platform, there are businesses around those assets, where we could add more value than perhaps another investor. That’s an area that we will focus on," he said.
Brookfield is also keen to acquire 100% ownership of large businesses with strong brands, as it has in the West. However, it feels that such opportunities are yet to be seen in a significant way in the Indian market.
“What we have seen in other markets is great businesses with great brands become available for sale and be bought 100%," said Ranjan.
swaraj.d@livemint.com
