Brookfield Corp. plans to build its property and casualty insurance
business as it looks to
exploit a corner of the insurance industry in which the firm has a competitive edge and hasn’t been crowded by other private equity players.
The firm is seeking “a relatively low-risk” area of property and ca
sualty insurance “where we can become globally dominant and create float to invest into our strategies,” particu
arly its higher-earning equity strategies, Chief Executive Officer Bru
ce Flatt said in an interview Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference.
Brookfield is focused on areas “where we have something spec
ial,” including underwriting insurance for real estate construction and warehouses, he said.
Read more: Brookfield Turns Focus to Insurance as Source of Fresh Capital
While annuities remain Brookfield’s largest business within in
surance, the firm wants to grow the property and casualty insurance business, which currently makes up a small portion of its book.
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P/C accounted for just $3.5 billion of equity as of the second quarter, but Brookfield aims to grow that to $30 billi
on to $50 billion in the lo
ng run by writing policies for real estate construction, industrial warehouses and renewable power facilities.
The Canadian firm has been aggressively expanding its insurance and wealth business, snapping up com
panies in the US, pushing into the UK market and, more recently, expanding in
to Japan’s reinsurance market.
Flatt also said Tuesday that he expects asset sales to accelerate in the US as interest rates drop.
“You’re going to see a lot of more monetizations in the United St
ates and that’s good for us — but it’s also good for the industry in gen
eral,” said Flatt, who’s also the CEO of New York-based Brookfield Asset Management.
Photograph: A Canadian flag flies in a courtyard in the financial d
istrict of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. Photo credit: Galit Rodan/Bloomberg