Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management has made a takeover approach for Australia's Multiplex Group, the construction and property group said.
Multiplex, the firm behind the much-delayed Wembley sports stadium in London, said on Jan. 25 it had received a potential bid from an unnamed suitor. On Monday it named the suitor as Brookfield but said no value had yet been put on the offer. Multiplex has a market capitalization of A$4.04 billion (US$3.1 billion).
The formal approach may lead to Brookfield and the Roberts Family Nominees (RFN), which holds 25.6% of Multiplex, offering to buy "100 percent of the underlying businesses of Multiplex," the group said in a statement.
That would encompass Multiplex's property development, construction, property funds management and facilities management businesses.
Brookfield Asset Management manages assets of about $50 billion. It owns half of Brookfield Properties, which has a real estate portfolio of 73 million square feet that includes the World Financial Center in New York.
Multiplex's development of the Wembley stadium in Britain has been dogged by disputes and soaring costs and is heading for completion way behind schedule.