What changed in Brookfield's approach
Reliance Worldwide Corporation Limited (ASX: RWC) confirmed on August 18 that it has signed a process deed with Brookfield Capital Partners LLC, a unit of Brookfield Corporation (BN), setting out terms for a potential acquisition. Under the proposal, Brookfield would pay A$4.75 in cash for every Reliance Worldwide share, implying total consideration of approximately A$4.1 billion. The process deed runs from 17 August to 15 September and includes four weeks of exclusivity restrictions covering non-solicit, no-talk and no due-diligence obligations, during which both sides have agreed to work towards a Scheme Implementation Deed on terms consistent with the proposal.
Price, premium and the path to A$4.75
The A$4.75 offer represents a 31.6% premium to Reliance Worldwide's A$3.61 closing price on 17 August and a 32.8% premium to its three-month volume-weighted average price of A$3.58 leading up to that date. It is the fourth price Brookfield has put forward: earlier unsolicited, non-binding indicative offers in April and May were pitched at A$4.15, A$4.25 and A$4.50 per share. Reliance Worldwide provided Brookfield with non-public information during an approximately eight-week due diligence period, after which negotiations produced the revised A$4.75 proposal in early August, taking Brookfield's headline bid up by roughly 14.5% from its first approach.
Market reaction and implied multiples
Reliance Worldwide shares jumped about 22–24% on the news, trading between A$4.31 and A$4.53 and reaching roughly A$4.47–A$4.50 in intraday checks on 18 August, still about 5.9% below Brookfield's A$4.75 headline price. The proposal implies an enterprise value of around A$4.1 billion and a 12.1 times FY26 adjusted EBITDA multiple. Because the stock continues to clear below the offer, the market is not yet treating the deal as fully priced for completion.
The earnings backdrop behind the bid
The bid landed the same day Reliance Worldwide reported a 95% collapse in FY26 statutory net profit, driven by US$103.3 million of post-tax one-off charges that pushed reported NPAT down to US$6.3 million. Underlying earnings were weaker but less dramatic, with adjusted NPAT falling 15.3% to US$125.1 million as tariffs, soft housing markets and manufacturing restructuring compressed margins. Management has guided to a FY27 sales recovery, which the offer effectively prices in.
Deal protections and what happens next
Alongside the exclusivity period, the proposed Scheme Implementation Deed would include a 30-day go-shop provision allowing Reliance Worldwide to solicit alternative third-party proposals, including providing due diligence and negotiating terms. No binding agreement has yet been signed, and the next verifiable milestone is the end of the exclusivity window on 15 September, by which point both sides have committed to either finalise a Scheme Implementation Deed consistent with the A$4.75 proposal or let the process lapse.
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