The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Brookfield Asset Management raised $93-billion for its funds last year and expects to bring in similar amounts this year (all figures U.S.). The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that the Toronto asset manager expects to raise between $90-billion and $100-billion in 2024, with four of its main funds and dozens of its smaller strategies in the market seeking new money from investors. That excludes some commitments that were tallied as part of last year's fundraising totals but that slipped into January of 2024 as fund investors waited for the new year to commit. Brookfield reported a profit of $374-million for 2023, compared with $504-million in the previous year, and raised its dividend by 19 per cent to 38 cents per share. Interest rates have levelled off after a sharp run-up, and central banks have started to talk about rate cuts, so markets have started to come back to life and the gap in expectations between buyers and sellers has started to narrow. Brookfield now predicts that the volume of deals will pick up throughout this year, after a broad slowdown in activity last year. Total assets under management at Brookfield Asset Management swelled to $916-billion.