I don't know who wrote it but Brookfield $BN (-4,04%) has written a good report on their investment approach for 2026.

https://www.brookfield.com/2026-investment-outlook

I haven't read it myself yet, but for the curious here's something to read

Deutsche Telekom $DTE (-1,18%) and the Lidl parent company Schwarz Group want to pull together and build a large data center in Germany.

As reported by Handelsblatt, the two companies are holding talks about an AI Factory in order to apply for EU funding.

A Canadian financial investor $BN (-4,04%) could come on board as a financial backer.

According to Handelsblatt, negotiations are already at an advanced stage.

A Telekom spokesperson said that the company was interested in Gigafactorys in principle. However, he did not want to comment on the specific case, nor did a Schwarz spokesperson.

In the digital age, data requirements are increasing massively and artificial intelligence (AI) applications are hungry for data, including for training their language models. This requires new data centers, which are to be built in Germany or other EU countries and thus make Europe less dependent on the USA.

Deutsche Telekom and the Schwarz Group have already increased their efforts in the area of AI data centers, and the joint project is now set to step up the pace.

At the beginning of November, Telekom announced in Berlin that it would be entering into the construction and operation of AI data centers on a large scale.

At that time, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges announced the launch of a joint project with the chip company Nvidia $NVDA (+0,87%) in which an AI factory is to be built in Munich for more than one billion euros.

"Without AI, you can forget about the industry," said Höttges a month ago. "Without AI, you can forget about Germany as a business location."

The Deutsche Telekom CEO pointed out that only five percent of high-performance AI chips are currently used in Europe and 70 percent in the USA.

Höttges emphasized that the data in the Munich AI cloud should remain entirely in Germany. Only employees from Germany and Europe would be involved in handling the data.

$BP. (-1,8%)
$RIGD (+0,17%)
$APO (-6,34%)
$LONEn . $BN (-4,04%)

Reliance Industries, Apollo Global Management and Lone Star Funds are interested in BP's Castrol lubricants business, which has been put up for sale, according to an agency report.

Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources, that the first indicative bids are expected in a few weeks. Saudi Arabia's Aramco is likely to consider a bid. The lubricants business could fetch 8 to 10 billion US dollars. According to the report, BP has already sent information about the business to other potential bidders such as Brookfield Asset Management and Stonepeak Partners.

Representatives for BP, Apollo, Lone Star, Brookfield and Stonepeak declined to comment, while a representative for Reliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Bloomberg.

BP shares ultimately traded 0.46 percent lower at 4.25 euros in London trading. Reliance shares fell by 1.43 percent to 291.32 US dollars in NYSE trading on Thursday.

DJG/DJN/brb/cln

https://www.finanzen.net/nachricht/aktien/medienbericht-aktien-von-reliance-und-bp-tiefer-bps-castrol-weckt-wohl-interesse-von-reliance-apollo-und-lone-star-14523549

Warren Buffett hands over the baton to Greg Abel. The fact that the legendary investor and CEO of the investment company Berkshire Hathaway $BRK.B (-0,52%) is stepping down at the age of 94 is something that everyone can understand. For shareholders, however, the transition is fraught with uncertainty, despite all the promises of continuity: Buffett's footsteps are difficult to fill, and what's more, Berkshire - despite its still impressive performance - is also a victim of its own success. With a share portfolio worth around 300 billion dollars, the company is simply a cumbersome tanker.

It is therefore worth taking a look at alternatives. In addition to the Canadian investment holding Brookfield $BN (-4,04%) the Markel Group ($MKL (+0,68%) ) is becoming increasingly well-known. With a market capitalization of 21 billion euros, it may be tiny compared to Berkshire, but otherwise there are great similarities. Markel's "base" is also an insurance group, but there is also the investment division, which invests the money according to value criteria. The largest positions are Berkshire Hathaway and Brookfield, followed by Alphabet, Deere and Amazon. The less well-known investments include the air conditioning distributor Watsco, the strategy consultancy Marsh & McLennan and the broker LPL Financial. Baby Berkshire certainly has no track record to hide behind: Over the past ten years, the share price has risen by around 145 percent - with fairly moderate fluctuations.

Source: Focus Money

Brookfield Corporation $BN (-4,04%) reported an impressive financial performance for the first quarter of 2025, with distributable earnings (DE) up 27% to $1.549 billion ($0.98 per share), compared to $1.216 billion in the prior year. DE before realizations grew by 30% to USD 1.301 billion, reflecting the strong organic performance in the three core businesses: Asset Management, Wealth Solutions and Operating Businesses.

Asset Management: This business, led by Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), generated USD 684 million in DE, driven by record fee-related earnings of USD 698 million (+26%), as fee-based capital increased 20% to USD 549 billion. Inflows of $25 billion in the quarter, including a $16 billion loan fund and a $16 billion real estate fund, underscore the strong demand for Brookfield's funds. Accumulated unrealized carried interest grew 14% to $11.6 billion, with $189 million realized in the quarter, signaling future return potential.

Wealth Solutions: Brookfield Wealth Solutions (BWS) delivered $430 million in DE, an increase of 58%, driven by $4 billion in annuity sales and a $133 billion insurance asset base. A 5.7% portfolio yield, which is 1.8% above the cost of funding, generated a 15% return on $11.5 billion of invested capital. The rotation of USD 8 billion into higher yielding investments and the growth of statutory capital to USD 16 billion strengthen the financial position.

Operating Businesses: This segment generated $426 million in DE, up 26%, supported by stable growth in real estate (3% same-store NOI), renewable energy (BEP), infrastructure (BIP) and private equity (BBU). Brookfield closed 9 million square feet of leases and the North American residential business generated $640 million from sales as it evolves to a lower capital model.

Strategic Initiatives:

• Acquisitions: Subsequent to quarter end, Brookfield acquired a majority stake in Angel Oak, a leading credit manager with $18 billion in assets under management, to strengthen BAM's credit platform.

• Asset sales: Brookfield completed $22 billion of asset sales, predominantly at or above book value, and realized $1.027 billion of capital gains in LTM, primarily from the sale of BAM shares to American Equity Life shareholders in the second quarter of 2024.

• Capital allocation: In the LTM, Brookfield returned $1.577 billion to shareholders, including $509 million in dividends and $1.068 billion for the repurchase of 21.7 million shares, of which $569 million was used in Q1 for 10.4 million shares. The company invested $8.532 billion in its businesses, including $2.539 billion in Asset Management, $2.461 billion in Wealth Solutions and $1.955 billion in Operating Businesses, primarily for debt repayments and real estate investments.

• Financing: Brookfield completed $30 billion in financings, including a $500 million 30-year unsecured bond with the tightest spread to date. In the LTM, a US$700 million 30-year subordinated note and a US$1 billion non-recourse term loan were issued.

• Liquidity and Capital Structure: Brookfield has $165 billion of available capital, including $5.5 billion of corporate liquidity ($2.1 billion in cash and investments, $3.4 billion in unutilized credit facilities). Corporate debt totaled $13.46 billion with an average interest rate of 4.7% and a maturity of 15 years, supplemented by $4.33 billion of perpetual preferred stock with a 4.9% cost. The debt-to-capital ratio is 14% based on market capitalization.

• Wealth Solutions Expansion: BWS was awarded a Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) license in the UK, the first dedicated PRT license since 2007, and is targeting a market of over £500 billion over the next ten years.

Brookfield is targeting DE growth of over 15% per annum and remains optimistic about its ability to grow further through strong fundraisings, strategic acquisitions and asset sales. The company emphasizes its conservative capital structure and record capital deployment capacity as key factors for future success.

Since dear @SAUgut77 nominated me, here are my #grüneostern .

YTD is a small minus of 1.5%, in TTWROR even a small plus of 0.5%.

I slimmed down my portfolio quite a bit in the first few months of 2025 and the "crash" came in quite handy, even if I was very cautious.

I'm still staying away from big tech and somehow even the sale doesn't make the stocks palatable to me.

What I find really interesting at the moment $WPM (-1,89%) and other gold royalty companies. But also $BN (-4,04%) smiles at me.

Otherwise, I'm looking forward to the $PM (+0,52%) earnings (of course I'll have a great post about that)

So I'm completely satisfied.

I think most people have already been nominated and to be honest I can only think of the @ of @RealMichaelScott comes to mind

[What do you think of private equity? I've been looking at it for days and am considering building up a position. I'm waiting for a correction as the shares have been running a bit hot].

Private equity is an asset class in which capital is invested in unlisted companies in order to promote their growth or to restructure them. Typical investment areas of private equity firms are corporate takeovers, growth financing, restructuring, real estate, infrastructure and corporate succession.

In the past, high minimum investments of over €10,000 and limited transparency were major hurdles.

Today, private equity investments are easier as there are "low-cost ETFs (0.7 TER)" and platforms that enable access even for small investors.

In recent years, private equity has become a popular investment option as investors can benefit from the high returns and stability provided by strategic investments in private companies. In addition, participation in unlisted companies can provide further diversification. Three of the best known and largest companies in the private equity sector are KKR, Blackstone and Brookfield.

• KKR Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
  $KKR (-3,56%) is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms and has established itself as a leader in the global financial landscape. The firm is known for its broad-based investment strategy targeting a variety of sectors, including infrastructure, real estate and energy.

• Blackstone
  $BX (-5,2%) the largest private equity firm in the world, has also expanded its focus to these sectors, but is particularly known for its real estate and real estate funds.

• Brookfield Corporation $BN (-4,04%) is another major player known for its broadly diversified strategy, investing heavily in infrastructure and renewable energy alongside private equity. All three companies offer strong long-term growth opportunities, but Blackstone stands out due to its sheer size and market leadership.

Investing in shares or ETFs?

• One listed ETF that invests in private equity is the "Listed Private Equity ETF" $IPRV (-2,32%) This ETF offers broad exposure to listed private equity companies, making it a practical option for investors seeking access to the asset class without having to invest directly in private funds. Over the last 20 years, the average return on private equity funds has been around 12-15% per annum.
• The disadvantage is that although ETFs are cheaper than funds, they offer lower returns and are expensive compared to other ETFs.

Conclusion

Advantages:

• Potential for strong company improvements and increases in value.
• High potential returns due to growth potential.
• Access to exclusive investment opportunities.

Disadvantages:

• Higher risk due to corporate restructuring or market conditions.
• High minimum investment and costs with traditional private equity funds. ETF with 0.7 TER.

Interesting videos on the topic of private equity:

CEO Brookfield Corporation

https://youtu.be/vmt1Li1Rnes?si=CWbRjgbW2Op3_3Ig

KKR Head of Europe

https://youtu.be/3tOR4SKdP0E?si=ohmesMorNYBsGZH1

More on the topic at @JtoTheB

https://getqu.in/8kAzee/

Let's see if the decision continues to pay off so well.

At the time, the proceeds were invested exclusively in $BN (-4,04%) at a price of around 43 euros.