Monday, December 10, 2007

Dude, where's my infrastructure spinoff?

Pleased as I was to get a stake in a blue chip name like Brookfield Asset Management during a temporary retreat in the stock price, I'm a bit mystified by the radio silence the company has had since releasing their plans to spin off their infrastructure assets into a separate company in July.

From the release: "Brookfield Infrastructure will focus on high quality, long-life assets that generate stable cash flows, require relatively minimal maintenance capital expenditures and, by virtue of barriers to entry and other characteristics, tend to appreciate in value over time."

Sounds like my kind of holding. But the company hasn't said a peep about this plan since the original July announcement, and I'm wondering what's going on. The spin-off was meant to take the form of a special dividend of $1 per Brookfield share, and trade on the NYSE. I assumed it was somewhat imminent, but here we are, five months later, and still nothing.

I'm sure the plans haven't materially changed, but I'm still puzzled by the lack of information. I've been poking around on the company's filings on SEDAR but I can't seem to find even a vague mention of a date anywhere. It's curious.

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