(Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Capital Partners (UK) Ltd. entered the bidding frenzy for Insignia Financial Ltd., joining Bain Capital and CC Capital Partners with an offer for the Australian wealth management firm.
Brookfield offered A$4.60 per share for Insignia and has been granted limited access to its books, according to a statement Wednesday from Insignia. That’s the same price offered by Bain Capital and CC Capital Partners and values Insignia at about A$3.1 billion ($1.9 billion).
It’s been nearly eight weeks since Bain’s original offer was disclosed, with Insignia’s board attempting to entice higher bids by allowing all three firms limited access to proprietary information. The buyout firms are chasing a slice of Australia’s giant retirement savings pool — one of the world’s largest and fastest growing.
Insignia shares climbed 6.9% on Wednesday to end the session at A$4.62, the highest since September 2021.
Insignia said there is no guarantee that the Brookfield proposal will result in a binding offer and shareholders don’t need to take action.
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Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. made the offer through its UK entity. The business could fit within a portfolio of other financial investments including its North American-based insurance arm Brookfield Wealth Solutions Ltd. and, locally, one of Australia’s largest non-bank lenders, La Trobe Financial, which it acquired from Blackstone Inc. for about A$1.5 billion in 2022.
Bain Capital, which was first to make an offer, has pursued a number of turnaround strategies in Australia in recent years. The Boston-based private equity firm acquired airline Virgin Australia during the pandemic and took struggling aged care provider Estia Health private in 2023.
CC Capital’s proposal is not its first attempt to enter the Australian market. The firm was outbid when National Australia Bank Ltd. sold its superannuation arm MLC Wealth to Insignia in 2020, Bloomberg News previously reported.
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