People walk to Brookfield Place off Bay Street in Toronto in this file photo.MARK BLINCH/Reuters
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. says it's planning to create a new global facilities management business, which will include a Canadian and Australian business that it has jointly owned with Johnson Controls Inc.
Brookfield says it will pay US$200-million to buy the other half of the joint venture that it has had with Johnson Controls and then launch its new initiative on a large-scale in the United States and Europe.
The company is a Toronto-based alternative asset manager that's focused primarily on real estate, renewable power generation and the forestry sector.
It currently has about $200-billion of assets under management, making it one of Canada's largest asset managers. It is also one of the world's leaders in commercial real estate management, with properties in major Canadian and U.S. cities..
Brookfield said Friday that the termination of its joint venture agreements with Johnson Controls will allow Brookfield to build on client relationships across its property portfolio.
"As the largest property owner in the United States, expansion to the U.S. was always natural, but not feasible under our previous agreements," Cyrus Madon, CEO of Brookfield Capital Partners, said in a statement from New York City.
"The consolidation of our Canadian and Australian businesses is a first step toward our goal of creating a global, industry leader in facilities management."