Brascan Corp. has announced plans to change its name to Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and buy back US$500 million worth of shares.

“The name change is another step in the company’s evolution to a specialist asset manager,” the Toronto-based firm said in a release Thursday. “The rebranding of the company under one unified name should assist in the expansion of its asset management activities, with a particular focus on property, power and infrastructure investments.”

Brascan has about $40 billion worth of assets under management, including 70 high-end office properties and 130 power plants.

During the summer, Brascan Corp. sold its 19.9 per cent stake in Falconbridge to Swiss miner Xstrata PLC for $2 billion Cdn while Falconbridge completed its mega-merger with Noranda Inc..

CEO Bruce Flatt said Thursday that “a focused approach to marketing our brand” under one name “should benefit all of our operations in the years ahead.”

Brascan also announced it will seek to buy back about US$500 million worth of its common shares at a price of US$41 per share.

“We believe our shares are an excellent investment at this time. The repurchase will immediately add to both intrinsic value and cash flows per share.”