Brookfield Fund Shifts Management, Taps Institutional Strength

NEW YORK, NY – March 06, 2026 – Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc. (NYSE: RA) has announced an upcoming change in its portfolio management team, a move that signals a deeper integration with the firm's extensive institutional resources. Effective June 30, 2026, Paula Horn will step down from her role as Co-Portfolio Manager after a tenure of approximately 15 months.

The fund's management continuity will be maintained by the remaining Co-Portfolio Managers: Gaal Surugeon, Chris Janus, and Riley O’Neil. According to the announcement from Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC, the trio will continue to be responsible for all allocation decisions, ensuring a stable hand at the helm. More significantly, the team will now formally leverage Brookfield’s recently formed Investment Solutions Group (ISG), a move designed to enhance access to the parent company's global research and investment expertise.

This transition appears to be less about an individual departure and more about a strategic pivot towards a team-based, institutionally-backed management model, a growing trend across the asset management industry.

A Focus on Continuity and Team Expertise

Paula Horn, who also served as President and Chief Investment Officer for Brookfield's Public Securities Group, joined the fund's management team on March 31, 2025. During her time as co-manager, the fund navigated a complex market, delivering a net asset value (NAV) total return of 8.04% for the year ended December 31, 2025, with all of its underlying real asset classes posting positive returns.

The remaining management team brings a diverse and complementary set of skills to the fund. Gaal Surugeon, a Managing Director on the Multi-Asset Solutions team, focuses on portfolio construction and asset allocation for diversified real asset portfolios. He joined Brookfield in 2019 after serving as an Executive Director at Oppenheimer Asset Management. Chris Janus, a Managing Director on the Real Asset Debt team, brings deep expertise in real estate and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), having joined the firm in 2009. Riley O’Neil, also a Managing Director on the Multi-Asset Solutions team, specializes in asset allocation and risk analysis, drawing on his background in portfolio risk analytics at multi-strategy hedge funds.

The combined experience of Surugeon, Janus, and O’Neil covers multi-asset strategy, specialized real asset debt, and sophisticated risk management, providing a well-rounded leadership structure. Their continued stewardship is intended to reassure investors of the fund's stable strategic direction.

Tapping the Power of the Investment Solutions Group

The most significant aspect of the announcement is the explicit move to leverage Brookfield's Investment Solutions Group (ISG). Formed in April 2025, the ISG is a powerhouse initiative chaired by Oaktree Capital Management Co-Chairman Howard Marks and led by Alper Daglioglu, a former Morgan Stanley executive. Its mandate is to deliver tailored multi-asset solutions to clients by harnessing the full breadth of Brookfield's global investment platform, which spans renewable power, infrastructure, private equity, real estate, and credit.

By integrating the RA fund more closely with the ISG, the portfolio managers gain enhanced access to the proprietary data, market insights, and research generated by Brookfield's vast operations in over 30 countries. This "owner-operator" perspective provides a unique informational edge that is difficult to replicate. For the fund's investors, this integration promises a more robust and diversified investment process, reducing key-person risk associated with individual managers and instead emphasizing the collective strength of one of the world's largest alternative asset managers.

This shift aligns with a broader industry trend where sophisticated investors are seeking strategic partners who can offer comprehensive solutions across public and private markets, moving away from a reliance on siloed, "star" fund managers.

Strategic Outlook for Real Asset Investors

The Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund's core objective remains unchanged: to seek a high total return through a combination of high current income and capital growth. It pursues this by investing at least 80% of its assets in a diversified mix of real estate, infrastructure, and natural resources securities.

As of early March 2026, the fund's portfolio was heavily weighted towards credit, with Corporate Credit comprising approximately 59% (split between infrastructure, real estate, and natural resources) and Securitized Credit making up about 28% (primarily residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities). Equities constituted a smaller portion at around 8.4%.

The fund, with approximately $795.2 million in total net assets, utilizes leverage to enhance returns, with an effective leverage ratio standing at 24.20%. It continues to offer an attractive monthly distribution, with a rate of 10.52% as of early March. However, its market price of $13.29 on March 5, 2026, represented a significant -8.41% discount to its net asset value of $14.51, a metric that value-oriented investors often watch closely.

While the management change is unlikely to cause a radical shift in strategy, the increased influence of the ISG and the specific expertise of the remaining managers may lead to subtle refinements. The fund's 2025 annual report noted that the growing power demands from artificial intelligence were a significant tailwind for the infrastructure sector. With the ISG's broad perspective on global trends and the management team's deep analytical capabilities, the fund is well-positioned to capitalize on such evolving opportunities within the real assets universe.