The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Brookfield Asset Management is in exclusive talks to buy a majority share of French renewable energy provider Neoen with a bid that values the company's shares at 6.1 billion euros ($9-billion) and includes a plan to take the company private. The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that Brookfield is offering 39.85 euros ($59.07) per share to buy 53.32 per cent of Neoen from current owners that include billionaire Jacques Veyrat's Impala SAS, the Fonds Stratégique de Participations and an investment vehicle owned by Neoen chairman and chief executive officer Xavier Barbaro. Financing for the bid will be led by the Toronto-based asset manager's subsidiary, Brookfield Renewable, as well as institutional co-investors such as state-owned Singaporean fund Temasek Holdings. The offer price is a 26.9-per-cent premium over Neoen's last closing price. The deal requires consultation with bodies that represent employees and approvals from regulators, which Brookfield expects it could obtain by the fourth quarter. Assuming it is successful, Brookfield would then make an all-cash tender offer to buy all the remaining shares and convertible bonds in Neoen to take the company private.