UPDATE 1-Brookfield says buying 19.2 pct stake in Australia's Asciano

(Recasts; adds Brookfield comments, Asciano comments)
SYDNEY, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Canada's Brookfield Asset
Management Inc BAMa.TO said it bought a 19.2 percent stake of
Asciano Ltd AIO.AX , matching a rival suitor's stake for the
Australian ports and rail giant and upping the bid competition
for the $6.5 billion target.
In a statement on Friday, Brookfield also said it plans to
defer a previous buyout agreement with Asciano and instead
launch a formal takeover offer, a move that would lower the
necessary shareholder approval and curb a rival bidder's ability
to block it.
Brookfield took the unusual measure a week after Asciano's
domestic rival Qube Holdings Ltd QUB.AX and partners bought a
one-fifth stake in the target, saying they wanted to split up
Asciano's assets between them and that they would vote against
the Brookfield proposal.
Since the existing Brookfield proposal was instigated by the
target company, it needed 75-percent shareholder approval, so
Qube almost had enough shares to block it. But under a formal
takeover offer, as proposed by Brookfield on Friday, it needs
just 50.1 percent shareholder approval.
"Brookfield ... intends to keep its existing scheme of
arrangement in place for the time being, however, it has
requested a deferral of the scheme meeting," the Canadian firm
said in the statement, referring to a Nov. 10 shareholder
meeting that would require 75 percent.
The deal, which would be Australia's biggest inbound
takeover in four years and the country's biggest takeover by a
Canadian firm on record, has faced a regulatory snarl with the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission raising concerns
about antitrust problems since Brookfield already owns the
railways Asciano's trains run on.
In a statement, Asciano said it continues to support the
Brookfield proposal and that it will apply to the court to defer
the shareholder vote.
Asciano shares closed up 0.5 percent at A$8.28 on Thursday,
having struggled to trade at Brookfield's A$9.20 offer price
because of concerns the deal would fail to satisfy regulators.