DBRS Notes Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Rating Unaffected by Announcement to Privatize BPO

DBRS today notes the announcement by Brookfield Property Partners (BPY), a 93%-owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management (BAM or the Company), of a tender offer to acquire common shares of Brookfield Office Properties (BPO, rated BBB with Stable trend) currently not held by BPY. In DBRS’s opinion, the proposed transaction, if materialized, will not by itself affect BAM’s ratings (including its issuer rating of A (low) with a Negative trend). For a detailed rationale on BAM’s rating, refer to the rating report on the Company published by DBRS on March 12, 2013.

DBRS noted that the offer, if accepted by BPO’s shareholders, is expected to close in the first half of 2014. The proposed transaction is consistent with BAM’s ongoing corporate restructuring by designating BPY as the flagship listed holding company for its equity interests in the properties segment, and is not expected to affect BAM’s corporate level debt, as the transaction is intended to be funded at the BPY level. Should there be any future change in the details of the transaction and its financing, DBRS will assess the impact of such change on BAM’s rating.

Notes:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The related regulatory disclosures pursuant to the National Instrument 25-101 Designated Rating Organizations are hereby incorporated by reference and can be found by clicking on the link to the right under Related Research or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

The applicable methodologies are Rating Holding Companies and Their Subsidiaries and DBRS Criteria: Preferred Share and Hybrid Criteria for Corporate Issuers (Excluding Financial Institutions) (November 2012), which can be found on our website under Methodologies.