Long-suffering shareholders in Multiplex, the Australian construction company that recently (and belatedly) completed the takeover of Wembley Stadium in London, are to be put out of their misery.
Brookfield Asset Management, the Canadian infrastructure specialist, has tabled a cash offer worth A$7.3bn, including debt. Assuming they get the support of an outside independent expert, Multiplex’s directors said they intend to recommend the offer.
Multiplex’s management, now led by Bob McKinnon and Ross McDiven, will be staying on, but the company’s controlling shareholders, the Roberts Family, who hold just over 25 per cent, appear to be selling out. The family had looked at a joint bid with Brookfield to take Multiplex private when the Canadian’s interest first surfaced in February.
Andrew Roberts and Tim Roberts have already resigned from the Multiplex board. Their father John, who founded the company in 1962, died a year ago.
The offer — pitched at A$5.05 for each of Multiplex’s stapled units — is said to be 20.7 times the group’s net profit for 2006. But that is before exceptional costs of A$204m incurred on the troubled Wembley project.
Brookfield, based in Toronto, is perhaps best known as the owner of the World Financial Centre in New York. The firm has about $50bn under management.
