A look at how investment management firm Brookfield Asset Management focused on building operational capability in India for five years, cut its first deal in 2014, and in a pandemic year managed to deploy $11.5 billion in the country. For early access to the full Cover Story, subscribe to Forbes India
(Left to right) Nawal Saini, Dev Santani, Ankur Gupta, Aditya Joshi and Arpit Agarwal of Brookfield at their office in Powai, Mumbai. Photo by Neha Mithbawkar for Forbes India
The first time Anuj Ranjan set foot in India was on November 23, 2008. While he is Indian by origin, Ranjan was born and raised in Canada, and flew in from Toronto to build Canadian investment management firm Brookfield Asset Management Inc’s India business. Once he landed in Mumbai, Ranjan went straight to the Trident (Oberoi) hotel at Nariman Point and checked in. Three days later, the hotel was the target of the 26/11 terrorist attack, Mumbai’s worst nightmare till date. Ranjan received worried calls from his offices in New York and Toronto, giving him the option to leave India. But he decided to against it.