Bruce Flatt, longtime chief executive of

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.

, has stepped down from that role, passing it to Connor Teskey in a long-planned leadership transition.

However, Flatt remains chair of the alternative asset manager’s board as well as CEO of parent company

Brookfield Corp.

Teskey, 38, is taking on the CEO role at BAM, the main operating company and continues as head of Brookfield’s renewable energy business.

“This appointment is the next step in the succession process we started four years ago to prepare the generation of leaders who will guide the company for the next 20-plus years,” Flatt said in a letter to investors Wednesday. “It is firmly rooted in Brookfield’s distinctive culture, which emphasizes collaboration, fosters innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, and maintains a strong sense of discipline.”

He added that he intends to continue to help the business, wherever he can be most useful.

“I will stay fully invested in Brookfield,” Flatt said. “Our entire senior team is thrilled to work with Connor as he assumes this role and takes Brookfield to new levels of success.”

Brookfield Asset Management, which has more than $1 trillion of assets under management and moved its headquarters to New York last year, announced a 15 per cent increase in its dividend Wednesday as it released results for the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31.

In a news release, Teskey said 2025 was a record year for the alternative asset manager across the areas of fundraising, deployment and monetization.

“Our fee-bearing capital grew to over $600 billion, with 22 per cent year-over-year growth in fee-related earnings and 14 per cent growth in distributable earnings,” he said. “Looking ahead, we will have key flagship strategies in the market and a growing suite of complementary offerings, positioning us to drive sustained growth across multiple channels.”

In the letter to investors, Flatt and Teskey said private equity, a key segment for BAM, has entered a new era, with returns driven by margin expansion rather than multiple expansion.

“Financial engineering is no longer a viable source of value creation as (private equity) now faces headwinds from normalized funding costs, slower monetizations, and buyers discounting forward growth,” they wrote, adding that the shift plays into Brookfield’s strengths.

“Performance will no longer rely on rolling the dice on the broader market, but on rolling up sleeves and improving operational efficiency — an approach that has always been core to our DNA.”

Half of the value generated in Brookfield’s private equity investments has come from operational improvements, they said, calling this “a real differentiator for our franchise, and a consistent strategy to maximize value.”

A recent investment in Chemelex, a company whose electric heat-trace systems are critical technology used across industrial facilities, energy infrastructure, data centers and commercial real estate, illustrates their point, they said.

Under the previous owners, Chemelex was treated as a non-core division, which resulted in under-investment and limited strategic focus.

“This created an opportunity for us to acquire a high-quality industrial business at an attractive entry point; exactly the type of situation where our operational expertise can drive value,” they wrote.

Since acquiring the business and building out its leadership team and core functions while implementing targeted operational initiatives, Brookfield has delivered more than $20 million of earnings improvements before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Year-over-year growth has been more than 15 per cent.

On a conference call with analysts Wednesday morning, Flatt said succession at Brookfield Asset Management has been underway since Teskey, who joined the firm in 2012, was appointed president in 2022.

“Over that time, Connor has taken on running virtually everything so this title change merely matches title to substance,” Flatt said. “There is, hence, no real transition. And our partners and people have all been involved in this.”

He said Teskey has played a central role in building Brookfield’s investment strategy, scaling its renewable business globally, and developing many of the leaders who now run the company’s businesses.

“He brings deep investment expertise, strong judgment and a long-term mindset that is fully aligned with Brookfield’s culture,” Flatt said. “He’s actually closer to what the next backbone of the global economy is, and we are excited about that.”

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• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com