News: Canada's Brookfield, Australia's Qube weigh joint Asciano bid

SYDNEY, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Consortiums led by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc and Australia's Qube Holdings (QUB) are considering joining forces to bid for Asciano Ltd (AIO), the Australian port and rail giant said on Tuesday.

A new deal would deliver a higher value to Asciano shareholders and speed up approval from the competition watchdog, the two bidding parties said in separate letters to the Asciano board.

The discussions remained preliminary, non-binding and there was no formal agreement yet, leading Asciano to continue to recommend Qube's A$9.01 billion ($6.51 billion) offer.

Asciano dumped an A$8.9 billion bid from Brookfield last week after Qube revised its offer higher.

($1 = 1.3839 Australian dollars)