A man with great business skills and a foresight, with ready financial backers he undertook major projects in North and South America.

He was the Founder of Barcelona Traction and São Paulo Tramway, Light and Power Company which is now Brookfield Asset Management.

Unstable governments in Mexico along with rampant bribery and corruption of public officials caused Pearson considerable grief.

The government of president Venustiano Carranza nationalized his Mexican Tramway Company and in the end, he lost virtually everything he had invested in Mexico.

In 1913, he negotiated a deal with the Spanish government for a hydro project on the Ebro River and formed the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company to carry out the construction that was completed in 1915.