Reliance Worldwide and its suitor Brookfield Capital Partners are in the dark as to the reasons behind AustralianSuper’s recent stake-building in the takeover target, said sources familiar with the situation.

A source familiar with the super annuation fund and a shareholder raised the prospect of it agitating against the deal as it has in numerous previous occasions including Brookfield’s failed attempt to acquire Origin Energy in 2023.

Reliance, a maker of plumbing components, announced on 18 August it had agreed a AUD 4.75 per share indicative scheme proposal with Brookfield. Since then AustralianSuper has twice reported increases to its stake in Reliance to 16.68% from 10.94% prior to the deal announcement.

Shares in Reliance closed at AUD 4.17 on Friday having briefly hit AUD 4.53 following news of the non-binding deal agreement.

AusSuper famously scuppered Brookfield’s AUD 20bn (USD 13bn) bid – through its asset management arm – for Origin Energy. The fund was reportedly opposed to KKR-backed Challenger’s bid for Pepper Money earlier this year.

AusSuper declined to comment on the matter.

One of the sources said nothing has changed from Brookfield’s perspective which remains focused on confirmatory due diligence.

A second source said AusSuper and Reliance have had dialogue and noted the company has not provided any recommendation on the indicative proposal and has only granted due diligence to enable Brookfield “to progress the proposal.” The source said the deal process is still in its early days.

A source familiar with how AusSuper has approached earlier deals said the fund’s motives would squarely be based around how it sees value. The source believed the fund was clearly opposed to the existing proposal and is seeking an improved offer or to block the deal.

On 18 August Reliance said the latest proposal from Brookfield followed previous bids made between April and May for AUD 4.15, AUD 4.25 and AUD 4.50 per share. Following that last offer the Canadian investor had been given an eight-week due diligence period and had been provided with non-public information.

Reliance and Brookfield declined to comment