Brookfield and partners formally launch hostile bid for Inter Pipeline

Business

CALGARY - Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. and its partners have formally launched a hostile bid to acquire Inter Pipeline Ltd., nearly two weeks after its public interest was rebuffed.

Brookfield says the offer to acquire the stake in Inter Pipeline it doesn’t already own is contained in documents filed with Canadian securities regulators.

Brookfield Infrastructure is offering $16.50 per share in cash or 0.206 of a Brookfield Infrastructure Corp. class A exchangeable share. The maximum cash available under the plan is $4.9 billion.

The fully financed offer that implies a value for Inter Pipeline of $7.1 billion expires on June 7.

Brookfield said it has previously discussed prices with Inter “in the range of $17 to $18.25’’ per share but would need to study its books to ”substantiate’’ its growth potential and commercialization objectives for the company’s $4-billion Heartland Petrochemical Complex, under construction near Edmonton, before increasing its offer.

Calgary-based Inter Pipeline has initiated a review of strategic alternatives in response to the hostile takeover bid.