People walk to Brookfield Place off Bay Street in Toronto in this file photo.© Mark Blinch / Reuters
Brazilian construction company OAS SA said Brookfield Asset Management Inc. has withdrawn an offer to buy one of its most valuable assets, potentially upending the company's turnaround.
The sale of OAS's stake in airport operator Invepar was part of a restructuring plan approved by creditors Dec. 18 and authorized by a court Jan. 27. Brookfield had offered 1.35 billion reais ($338.4-million) for the 24 per cent Invepar stake.
Brookfield withdrew its offer because it failed to reach an agreement with the company's remaining shareholders – three Brazilian pension funds that together control about three-quarters of the business – in time to complete its due diligence, according to the OAS statement distributed Tuesday by e-mail.
Now, OAS's stake in Invepar will be auctioned off, according to the statement. The auction should be officially announced later this week, and it will take place 30 days after that.
OAS and many of its Brazilian construction peers were swept up in Brazil's largest ever corporate scandal after prosecutors arrested some executives in November 2014, accusing them of paying kickbacks to state-run companies and politicians to win contracts with state-controlled oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA.
The scandal has crippled an industry that accounts for hundreds of thousands of jobs in Latin America's biggest economy. OAS became the largest Brazilian builder to seek protection from creditors.