Brookfield Asset Management Appoints Managing Partner, Private Institutional Equity

TORONTO, ONTARIO, May 11 (MARKET WIRE) --
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (TSX: BAM.A)(NYSE: BAM)(EURONEXT: BAMA)
today announced the appointment of Leo van den Thillart to the position
of Managing Partner, Private Institutional Equity, effective June 1,
2009. Mr. van den Thillart is a senior executive with significant
experience in building and managing a funds placement business. He also
has strong expertise in international marketing in the alternative
investments space.

Mr. van den Thillart's responsibilities at Brookfield Asset Management
will include managing the client relationship and fund operations group,
implementing fundraising strategies and managing private equity
institutional relationships, which he will carry out from Brookfield's
London offices.

Mr. van den Thillart was previously Senior Managing Director and Global
co-Head of the Private Funds Group at Bear Stearns & Co., J.P. Morgan.
Based in London, he was responsible for the overall strategic and
operational management of an international advisory and placement
businesses with offices in London, Munich, New York, Toronto, San
Francisco and Melbourne. The team he led placed billions of dollars from
international investors in private equity, real estate and real asset
funds. Mr. van den Thillart was also the Vice-Chairman and Executive
Director of Crane Capital Associates, Inc, a leading global private
equity firm he helped co-found in London in 1997 and where he worked for
a decade.

"We are very pleased that Leo has accepted to join the Brookfield team,"
said Jeff Blidner, Senior Managing Partner at Brookfield Asset
Management. "His accomplishments and experience base, as well as his
network of deep institutional relationships make him an ideal candidate
to run our private institutional equity activities."

"Brookfield has an outstanding reputation as an asset manager," said Leo
van den Thillart. "Its focus on real assets and its operational
capability make it extremely well positioned to meet the needs of
investors in the current market environment. I am thrilled to join the
organization at this juncture, and look forward to working with a dynamic
institutional equity group as we pursue opportunities to grow the
business."

Brookfield Asset Management Inc., is a global asset management company
focused on property, power and infrastructure assets, has approximately
$80 billion of assets under management and is co-listed on the New York
and Toronto Stock Exchanges under the symbol BAM and on NYSE Euronext
under the symbol BAMA. For more information, please visit our web site at
www.brookfield.com.

Contacts:
Brookfield Asset Management
Denis Couture
SVP, Corporate and International Affairs
(416) 956-5189
(416) 363-2856 (FAX)
dcouture@brookfield.com
www.brookfield.com

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