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BRASCAN                                                             NEWS RELEASE
CORPORATION

                           BRASCAN CORPORATION ANNOUNCES
                              NORMAL COURSE ISSUER BID

TORONTO, APRIL 17, 2001 - Brascan Corporation announced today that it has
received approval from The Toronto Stock Exchange for its proposed normal course
issuer bid to purchase up to 8,652,276 Class A Limited Voting Shares (the "Class
A Shares") representing approximately 5% of the 173,045,521 currently
outstanding Class A Shares. Purchases pursuant to the bid will be made through
the facilities of The Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
The period of the normal course issuer bid will be from April 19, 2001 to April
18, 2002, or such earlier date as Brascan may complete its purchases. The prices
which Brascan will pay for any Class A Shares purchased through the facilities
of the Exchange will be the market price of the Class A Shares at the time of
acquisition. Any Class A Shares acquired by Brascan will be cancelled.

Under a previous normal course issuer bid which ran from April 3, 2000 to April
2, 2001, Brascan purchased 5,485,700 Class A shares through open market
purchases on The Toronto Stock Exchange. During 2000, Brascan also acquired $50
million of its Series II Convertible Notes, equivalent to 1.6 million Class A
Shares.

Brascan believes that from time to time, the market prices of its Class A Shares
may not fully reflect the value of its business and its future business
prospects. The company believes that its outstanding Class A Shares currently
represent an attractive investment to Brascan and an appropriate and desirable
use of its available funds.


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BRASCAN CORPORATION is focused on increasing shareholder value through its
ownership interests in businesses with leadership positions in the property,
natural resources, energy and financial services industries. The Brascan group
employs over 50,000 people in managing and operating more than 120 major
production facilities in North and South America and Europe. Brascan is listed
on The Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
BNN.

For more information, please visit our web site at www.brascancorp.com or
contact the following individuals:



MEDIA:                   INVESTORS AND FINANCIAL ANALYSTS:
                                                             
Robert J. Harding        Richard Legault                           Katherine C. Vyse
Chairman                 Senior Vice-President and                 Vice-President,
416-363-9491             Chief Financial Officer                   Investor Relations
                         416-956-5183                              416-369-8246