Australia's Healthscope says Brookfield willing to proceed with takeover bid

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Dec 21 (Reuters) - Healthscope Ltd said on Friday Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management has indicated its readiness to proceed with its sweetened A$4.5 billion ($3.2 billion) takeover offer based on the due diligence materials received so far.

"Brookfield has also confirmed, based on its enquiries and financing discussion to date, it has no reason to believe it would not be willing and able to proceed with the proposal for acquisition of all shares in Healthscope ... " the hospital operator said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Healthscope said another bidder - the consortium of Australian private equity firm BGH Capital and partners - had indicated it is able to commence due diligence for their $2.36 per share bid made in October.

Last month, Healthscope picked Brookfield's higher offer of $2.585 per share over BGH's bid, which valued the company at A$4.1 billion. ($1 = 1.4059 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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