This prompted the company to more than halve its annual profit forecast last month. The cheapened price offers Brookfield an easy opportunity to strengthen its presence in Australia. "Opportunistic would be the word to describe Brookfield's engagement. We do think it is a sector that has a lot of economic power in the years ahead because of the demographic in Australia and the aging population," James McGlew, executive director of corporate stock broking at Argonaut said. Earlier this year, the Canadian firm won a bidding war for Australian hospital operator Healthscope Ltd with a A$4.35 billion takeover offer. Shares of Aveo, which runs over 90 retirement homes across Australia, rose their most in two months after the announcement. "Aveo continues to negotiate with Brookfield in respect of its indicative proposal with a view to entering into definitive agreements leading to a scheme of arrangement to give effect to the indicative proposal," the firm said in a statement.