Brookfield finds cheap bet on flexible working fad

Brookfield Business Partners LP

28/06/2021 16:01

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are their own.)
    LONDON, June 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Bruce Flatt is
placing his money where his mouth is. The chief executive of
Brookfield Asset Management  BAMa.TO , who last year famously
predicted that working from home wouldn’t last  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2DN1N4,
has bought https://bbu.brookfield.com/press-releases/2021/06-27-2021-210007934
 UK-based flexible office builder Modulaire Group from private
equity firm TDR Capital for an enterprise value of $5 billion.
Modulaire, which provides swiftly-erected, temporary buildings
for companies, schools and construction sites, is expected to
benefit from a recovery in Europe and Asia.  
    Despite the popularity of flexible working space
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2GY203, Flatt doesn’t appear to be overpaying either. His
listed industrial services unit Brookfield Business Partners
 BBU_u.TO  is paying roughly 12 times Modulaire’s 2020 EBITDA, a
discount to Finland-based rival Adapteo  ADAPT.ST , which is
valued at 15 times trailing EBITDA, according to Refinitiv data.
That should redouble Flatt’s faith that people will return to
the nine-to-five grind. (By Christopher Thompson)
    
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 (Editing by Neil Unmack and Oliver Taslic)
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