Brookfield plans Singapore hires to tap Asia energy demand boom

[SINGAPORE] Brookfield Asset Management plans to expand a team focused on deals in renewable energy and low-carbon technologies in South-east Asia, in order to seize on the region’s booming power demand.

The firm, which manages more than US$1 trillion in assets, will seek to bring in as many as four people to be based in Singapore to focus on such deals, said Daniel Cheng, Brookfield’s head of renewable power and transition for Asia-Pacific. That will add to a hire earlier this year.

Countries in the region are “growing very rapidly,” Cheng said in an interview. “They recognise they both need to address the demand side for power and energy, but also the technologies available to actually decarbonise.”

The clean technology sector has rebounded this year on forecasts for electricity consumption to keep soaring as air conditioners to AI data centres add new demand, and as investment on decarbonisation climbs.

The S&P’s main gauge tracking clean energy has advanced about 44 per cent this year, well over double the gain in the MSCI World Index.

Brookfield, which has more than a dozen people in its Asia-Pacific renewable power and transition team, said in October it had raised US$20 billion for the world’s largest private fund dedicated to the global clean energy transition.

BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners LP and Pentagreen Capital have also boosted infrastructure debt teams in South-east Asia amid a push on decarbonisation projects.

At the same time, European utilities including EDP Renewables, Equinor and Orsted are among those to have recently paused or withdrawn from projects in South-east Asia, blaming a lack of long-term policy clarity and disconnected grid infrastructure.

“We’re leaning in rather than pulling out, and hopefully other investors leaving the region will make it more attractive for us,” Cheng said. “Less competition is always good.”

SEE ALSO

GIC, Brookfield buy Australia-listed National Storage Reit for A$4 billion

Last month, Brookfield completed the acquisition of Alba Renewables, with projects in the Philippines and Thailand, and also added a wind project in Vietnam. The asset manager is working to jointly develop and operate at least 1.5 gigawatts of utility-scale solar and battery energy storage projects with Malaysia-based Solarvest Holdings Bhd.

An expanded Brookfield team in Singapore will also examine opportunities related to biofuels, sustainable aviation fuel and carbon capture. And the firm plans additional hires for legal and tax roles. BLOOMBERG