Brookfield Asset Management Inc. will acquire one of Australia’s largest non-bank lenders, La Trobe Financial, from Blackstone Inc. for a valuation of about A$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion).
Brookfield’s purchase of the Melbourne-based asset manager of more than A$13 billion marks an expansion for the Canadian firm into Australia. Until recently its private equity investments focused mainly on deals in Asia and Europe.
Blackstone announced it would acquire 80% of La Trobe in 2017, seeing opportunity at the time in the shrinking loan appetite of Australia’s largest retail banks. The deal was completed two years later, and La Trobe’s assets under management have more than tripled since Blackstone’s investment.
La Trobe was weighing a potential sale or initial public offering last year that could have valued it at more than A$2 billion, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Read more: BNN Bloomberg
