Value creation and the partnership mentality

There’s no doubt that Brookfield’s Bradley Weismiller and Blue Owl’s Michael Lascher are industry leaders. Weismiller helps oversee more than $1 trillion in gross assets, as head of real estate capital markets and part of the leadership committee for Brookfield’s real estate credit business. Lascher leads capital markets and asset management for Blue Owl’s Real Assets business and, as Senior Managing Director, looks after $85 billion of assets under management across both equity and credit strategies.

This summer, in NYC, they spoke to Chatham Financial about big deals and movements in their portfolios—including Brookfield’s Two Manhattan West landmark refinancing and privatization of Peakstone; and Blue Owl-backed Meta Hyperion data-center development and Sila Realty Trust take-private.

So how do they do it? Both made the case that none of their work or successes would have been possible without trusted relationships, developed and protected over time.

“For the most part,” said Lascher, “we see the same lenders who finance our business in all parts of the world. There are people who want to do business with us, who like our investment thesis, and want to follow us where we are.

“My thing was always: I want the capital, I care about the rate, but I care more about the terms and whether I actually have confidence in you to deliver the capital when I need it. Keeping those things in mind really developed a partnership mentality.”

Weismiller made the point that the capital markets business, specifically real estate, requires a high frequency of execution, including refinancing activity.

“You are constantly going back to the same counterparties with different asks. How you behave as an institution, and as a person, when things are going well and when things are not going well, is everything for being able to call that lender again,” he said. “And the market becomes self-correcting in that sense where you are constantly needing to revisit these relationships and retest the markets against an ever-evolving macro backdrop.”

The best capital relationships are built before you need them, and a true partnership mentality drives long-term value creation.