March 27 (Reuters) – Shares of Origin Energy Ltd ORG.AX jumped on Monday after reports said authorities from a consortium led by Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management were flying into Australia to finalise the A$15.33 billion ($10.20 billion) buyout of the energy retailer.
Shares of Australia’s no. 2 power producer gained as much as 3.2% to A$8.170, marking their biggest intraday percentage gain since Feb. 22, when the Brookfield-led consortium tabled a revised A$8.90 per-share buyout offer.
Origin Energy shares hit their highest since March 16 and were among the top 10 gainers in the ASX 200 benchmark index .AXJO, which was flat-to-up, as of 0433 GMT.
The consortium and Origin Energy are close to agreeing to final adjustments to the deal, and confident it will be signed early this week, the Australian Financial Review reported, citing unnamed sources.
Origin Energy declined to comment on the reports when contacted by Reuters.
Although 1% below the original A$9.0 per-share cash offer made in November, the revised bid would be one of the biggest private equity-backed buyouts of an Australian company announced last year, if the deal goes through.
($1 = 1.5035 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))
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