(Reuters) -- Origin Energy, Australia's No. 2 power producer and energy retailer, backed an 18.4 billion Australian dollar ($11.8 billion) buyout offer from a consortium led by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management, the companies said on Thursday.
If successful, the takeover would rank as one of the biggest private equity-backed buyouts of an Australian company, and would be the largest deal in the country this year, Refinitiv data shows.
