1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:06,279 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio. 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 2: We want to go now to the Bloomberg invest conference 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:11,560 Speaker 2: taking place in downtown New York, where the Brookfield CEO 4 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 2: Bruce Lass is currently speaking. 5 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: Take a listen, mantage of opportunities, and. 6 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,959 Speaker 3: As long as you keep your eye on twenty years 7 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 3: from now and the businesses that you're running, all of 8 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 3: these things will be looked back upon as very short 9 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 3: term items. This will not be what we're going through today, 10 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,840 Speaker 3: will not be relevant twenty five years from today. 11 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 4: It might not be relevant beyond this presidential term. 12 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 3: I'm just telling you twenty five years from now, we're 13 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 3: going to look back and it won't be relevant. 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 5: You're thinking, and I did that time horizon. 15 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: We always think on those time horizons. Everything we do. 16 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 5: Not everybody here can afford to think like that. 17 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 3: Everything we do, or why we're in private markets is 18 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 3: because we buy things for long periods of time and 19 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 3: either we're going to hold them or it's in a 20 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 3: fund where we may have to sell. 21 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: But what we need to do is to prepare. 22 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 3: The investment for the next owner that they will accept 23 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 3: the next twenty five years. 24 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:12,679 Speaker 1: And that's really really important. 25 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 3: To keep your eye on the long Ball. 26 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 4: I know that you are certainly competitive, competitive in your industry, 27 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 4: competitive as an individual. Sometimes the how of the deal 28 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,479 Speaker 4: making process is important. The deal that I just mentioned, 29 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 4: this nineteen billion dollar deal for these global ports, originated, 30 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 4: as we understand it, with a pitch by Larry Fink, 31 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 4: of course, who is a peer of yours, runs Blackrock 32 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 4: directly to the White House and again thinking only in 33 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 4: terms of the next four years, not necessarily twenty five. 34 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 4: From a competitive standpoint, is that the kind of thinking 35 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 4: that you have to be operating with in. 36 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 5: Order to be competitive, in order to win, you know. 37 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 4: That kind of of access and that kind of I 38 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 4: think under the circumstances deal making creativity. 39 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 3: You know, we're building the Intel fabrication plan for thirty 40 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 3: two billion dollars in Arizona. We just signed a twelve 41 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 3: billion dollars Microsoft Power contract to build renewables for them, 42 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 3: largely in the United States. We just did a large 43 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 3: deal in Germany with Deutsche Telecom with their telecom towers. 44 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: We just signed AI deployment. 45 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 3: Data center business in France with the French government for 46 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 3: twenty billion. Our business is about facilitating our operating skills 47 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 3: and amassing the large. 48 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: Sums of money. 49 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 3: We have to take on opportunities that are significant, and 50 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,400 Speaker 3: increasingly there aren't that many people that can compete with 51 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 3: us just because of the. 52 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 1: Access to capital that we have. 53 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 4: You're right, there aren't many people who can compete with you. 54 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 4: There were few, however, right, Some of them started in 55 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 4: different places. Brookfield for many years was known as a 56 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 4: huge player and real estate and infrastructure, and now, of 57 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 4: course you're also huge in private equity and credit and renewable. 58 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 5: Energy and insurance. 59 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 4: But the others, I could name some of them, you 60 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 4: know who they are, are following a similar playbook, right, 61 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 4: trying to give clients everything that could possibly want under 62 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,799 Speaker 4: one roof concentrating more and more LP assets. It's been 63 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 4: great for your stock price and for. 64 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 5: Their stock prices. 65 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 4: Is the future more of the same, which is to say, 66 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 4: more concentration and more convergence, the biggest firms getting not 67 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 4: just bigger, but more alike one another. Or will there 68 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 4: be a divergence at some point with say a brook 69 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 4: Field and perhaps another firm or two going in one 70 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 4: direction and everybody else going in another. 71 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 3: I think over time, if you look at financial services, 72 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 3: there's always opportunity for niche players, and there will be 73 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 3: always that around the world, but there's increasingly concentration within 74 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 3: large scale players, which as you note, are probably five 75 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 3: or six today, maybe at seven or eight over time. 76 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 3: And those large players look similar, but they're not exactly 77 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 3: the same, and it's how they developed the access the 78 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 3: capital that they have. 79 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: Available to be able to deploy their businesses. 80 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 3: So they're similar, but then they're not exactly the same. 81 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 3: And it's not that one is better than the other, 82 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 3: it's just they're a little bit different for various reasons, 83 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 3: probably developed over twenty five thirty years. 84 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,280 Speaker 4: One of the big differentiators in your industry now is insurance, 85 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 4: a huge growth engine for alternative asset managers as a 86 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 4: group of Brookfield of course included why is that business 87 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 4: so appealing growing so quickly? 88 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 3: One of the last businesses in the financial services industry. 89 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: That had not almost it's now turned on its head. 90 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,560 Speaker 3: We're in the business of in our insurance business is 91 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 3: finding low risk liabilities and maximizing the asset value that 92 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:24,160 Speaker 3: we can generate on the asset side of the balance sheet. Historically, 93 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 3: insurance companies made money from insurance and found somebody to 94 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 3: invest their money, so the model's almost been turned like this. 95 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:40,840 Speaker 3: And our special ingredient to all of this is we 96 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 3: have one hundred and fifty billion dollars of capital at 97 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 3: our parent company. We put almost twenty billion dollars into 98 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:54,839 Speaker 3: the equity of our insurance business, which we've just sold assets. 99 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: And put that money into the company, and. 100 00:05:57,800 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 3: We will continue to do that to build out the 101 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 3: business over the next ten years. So because we have 102 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty billion dollars of tangible capital, we 103 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 3: can grow that business very significantly, and it both helps facilitate, 104 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 3: of course, earnings in the insurance business, but drives our 105 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,039 Speaker 3: whole asset management franchise as well. 106 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 4: So if you were to take the twenty plus billion 107 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 4: dollars of equity that you have in that insurance business 108 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 4: now and add one hundred plus. 109 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,359 Speaker 3: You know it ultimately could be all the capital we 110 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 3: have up top, which is one hundred and fifty billion dollars. 111 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,680 Speaker 4: That turned it into an insurance business with what in 112 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 4: the way of assets. 113 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:38,600 Speaker 1: It would just be turned up this way. 114 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:41,480 Speaker 3: It would be an insurance business owning or asset management 115 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 3: and our investment operations, which is really what Berkshire Hathaway is. 116 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,360 Speaker 3: It's an insurance company that owns investments intially. 117 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 5: Also what apollows has become. 118 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 3: Yes, they don't have an extra one hundred and fifty 119 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 3: billion dollars in capital up top, but. 120 00:06:58,320 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. 121 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 4: So if you secute on that plan and we compare 122 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 4: Brookfield with Apollo, because sounds to me like it's at 123 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 4: this point or going to be a very useful comparison, 124 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 4: what do the two look like at the end. 125 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 5: Of the day. 126 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 3: Look, our business has a very large asset management business, 127 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 3: which is a trillion dollars of assets under management, a 128 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 3: large insurance company that's getting bigger, and a very significant 129 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 3: pool of cash, cash and assets. 130 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: That can be turned into cash. 131 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 3: What we do with those assets that can be turned 132 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 3: into cash will decide over time. They may go in 133 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 3: to we're insurance company if we can find opportunities, or 134 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 3: we will redeploy them into some other financial services business, 135 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 3: or we'll just keep buying stock back over the next 136 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 3: twenty years. We'll have to see where it goes, and 137 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 3: it'll all depend on opportunities. 138 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 4: Brucey recently predicted that there will be more consolidation in 139 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:58,400 Speaker 4: the alternatives industry. 140 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 5: Will Brickfield be a buyer. 141 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 3: As well, we are at the point where we almost 142 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 3: have everything that we want. We have a few very 143 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 3: simple metrics for things that could be additive to us. 144 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 3: But if something can be additive to us, that we 145 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 3: can bring something to a group and that culturally we 146 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 3: can see eye to eye and be partners, we might 147 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 3: add in other businesses into Brickfield asset management, but we 148 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 3: see no real need to pay up for anything at 149 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 3: this point in time, just because we're a pretty broad 150 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 3: We have a pretty broad array of products for our. 151 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: Clients and we continue to build those out. 152 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:48,839 Speaker 4: I do want to take a minute and talk to 153 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 4: you about AI in particular, because infrastructure is quite obviously 154 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 4: to all of us becoming one of the gating factors 155 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,680 Speaker 4: in the ros of AI. Hundreds and hundreds of billion 156 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 4: dollars being committed to AI infrastructure. 157 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 5: Brookfield as a player, what's. 158 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 4: Your commitment to date and what role do you see 159 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 4: yourselves playing over time. 160 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 3: So we are the largest private builder of renewable power 161 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 3: in the world, we're among the top three largest builders 162 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 3: of data centers in the world, and we're continuing to 163 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 3: morph the model into funding compute capacity for the technology groups. 164 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: That the number one the number one things. 165 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 3: Thing that stands between us achieving all of the models 166 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:50,319 Speaker 3: that will drive the AI revolution and productivity advances is 167 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:52,559 Speaker 3: the backbone of infrastructure around the world. 168 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: It's the singular one thing. 169 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 3: And so we continue to put enormous amounts of money 170 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 3: behind these big businesses, and it's largely because our view 171 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 3: is that the productivity advances that are going to come 172 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:11,439 Speaker 3: out of AI models in advanced robotics and services are 173 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 3: going to be unprecedented over the next twenty years. And 174 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:18,959 Speaker 3: what that means is we're in the midst in the 175 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 3: United States, but also globally, we'll in the midst of 176 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 3: this enormous investment era, but it's going into highly productive, 177 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:28,640 Speaker 3: all right. 178 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 2: That is the Bloomberg invest Conference. If you want to 179 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 2: continue to listen to the conversation between Eric Shasker and 180 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:35,960 Speaker 2: Bruce Latt, you can check it out on the Bloomberg 181 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 2: terminal by typing live go and tune into the developments 182 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 2: at Bloomberg Live