The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that Brookfield Asset Management has submitted a 2.1-billion-pound ($2.6-billion (U.S.)) takeover proposal for Middle Eastern credit card processor Network International Holdings PLC, topping a rival buyout consortium. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says that the Toronto-based investment giant made a "highly preliminary," non-binding proposal of 400 pence per share, Network said Friday. The potential offer is 11 per cent above Network's Thursday closing price in London and represents a 64 per cent premium to its last close before Bloomberg News first revealed takeover interest in the company. Brookfield's offer tees up the prospect of the year's first major takeover battle for a U.K.-listed company. Network said this week it received a takeover proposal of 387 pence per share from a consortium of CVC Capital Partners and Francisco Partners.