(Updates with Performance Sports' statement)
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Brookfield Asset Management Inc BAMa.TO , Canada's largest alternative-asset manager, is considering a bid for troubled hockey gear-maker Performance Sports Group Ltd PSG.TO PSG.N , Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Performance Sports' Toronto-listed shares which were previously halted was trading up 8.6 pct at C$5.25, while its U.S.-listed shares were up 10.6 pct at $3.97 in afternoon trading.
The company said, as previously announced, it had formed a special committee with the assistance of its financial adviser Centerview Partners LLC, and is continuing to review and evaluate strategic alternatives. Sports said on Tuesday it along with Centerview had discussions with certain interested parties and stakeholders, but no agreement has been reached with a third party.
Brookfield shares were down 1.3 percent at C$46.64 in afternoon trading.
Brookfield raised its stake to 13.2 percent in Performance Sports in September after having said it would push for a restructuring and a possible sale.
The asset manager is Performance Sports' second largest shareholder after Sagard Capital Partners Management Corp, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The former chairman of Performance Sports, Graeme Roustan, told Reuters in August that he had hired investment banks Jefferies Group LLC and Canaccord Genuity to explore a bid. Sports Group, which said in August that it may default on its loans due to a delay in filing its annual report, had Centerview Partners Holdings LLC to help negotiate with its lenders.
The company, which has been delaying its annual report citing internal investigation over its accounting, said it was the subject of inquiries by U.S. and Canadian securities regulators.
Performance Sports, which has a market value of C$221.5 million, is also under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and faces a shareholder class action lawsuit.
The company agreed in August to an extension to file its annual and first quarter results by Oct. 28.
Should the company file for creditor protection after that date, former chairman Graeme Roustan is said to be seeking financial backing to launch a bid for Performance Sports' roughly $440 million in debt, and then take control of the company through a restructuring, Bloomberg reported. (http://bloom.bg/2echMAm)
Brookfield declined to comment.