Canada's Brookfield Asset Management shelved a $6.5 billion takeover agreement with Australian port and rail giant Asciano and said it will launch a formal takeover offer instead, threatening a rival proposal and raising the antitrust regulator's role in deciding the outcome. Since Brookfield and Asciano agreed to a buyout in August, local port competitor Qube Holdings Ltd has bought one-fifth of the target and vowed to oppose a Brookfield takeover in favour of its own proposal to split the target's assets between itself and global investment partners.The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has also suggested it might stop Brookfield buying Asciano since the Canadian suitor already owns some of the railways Asciano's trains run on. It will make a final ruling on Dec. 17.But on Friday, Brookfield fought back by buying its own one-fifth stake in Asciano. And in a subtle but significant change, it said it would delay the agreed buyout and launch a formal takeover instead, meaning it needs only 50.1 percent shareholder approval, rather than 75 percent.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (Brookfield) is a global alternative asset manager. Shares of BAM fell by 0.86% or $-0.3/share to $34.44. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $29.83 and as high as $39.00. On average, 1505830 shares of BAM exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 863608.
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