It is fair to say that Brookfield didn’t want to have its AGL share buying exposed at this early stage. It accumulated the stock in recent weeks and was staying under the mandatory 5 per cent disclosure radar and had amassed the position using the curiously named vehicle 123456789 4 Pty Ltd.

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AGL, which regularly trawls its own share register, quickly found this unusually named new shareholder, smelt a rat, did some cursory fishing to find it was Brookfield behind the buying.

For its part Brookfield wasn’t trying for an elaborate disguise - so it would have known AGL would find its fingerprints.

But AGL took corporate disclosure to a new high point in telling the market about Brookfield’s move - a decision it took after convening its ‘continuous disclosure committee’ that determined the market should know about Brookfield’s stake given the takeover history.

But Brookfield must be less than thrilled that its ‘cover’ was blown by AGL. The minute the market was informed, AGL’s shares moved from being down more than 1 per cent to strongly into the green.

After AGL rebuffed the second Brookfield offer in March, the two didn’t exactly part on friendly terms.

Still, on the subject of disclosure the fact that Brookfield did not have to tell the market when it started buying shares is evidence it is not in league with Cannon-Brookes. If they had been working in concert the regulations around disclosure dictate that their respective shareholdings would be combined.

That said, Cannon-Brookes will be looking for maximum leverage during his discussions with AGL in which he is seeking one board seat and an undertaking the company will not sell off either its retail or generation business.

Having a like-minded shareholder in Brookfield will be handy for Cannon-Brookes in his negotiations with AGL. If AGL was to accept an offer for either of its major divisions it would require shareholder support of 50 per cent of those voting.