Brookfield Asset Management is seeking to privatise the US$108bn (€86.7bn) listed fund Brookfield Property Partners (BPY) in a deal with worth US$5.9bn.
The Toronto-headquartered company said it had made an offer to acquire all of the limited-partnership units it does not already own in the fund at a value of US$16.50 each.
US-listed BPY owns a US$108bn portfolio of office, retail, multifamily, industrial, hospitality, triple-net-lease, self-storage, student-housing and manufactured-housing assets across the globe.
Brookfield said it had made the offer with “institutional partners” without naming other investors involved. Qatar Investment Authority is known to be one of the biggest investors in the fund.
Brookfield Property Partners said it had acknowledged the offer and had established a committee of independent directors to review and consider the proposal.
Nick Goodman, CFO of Brookfield Asset Management, said: “The offer presents an excellent opportunity for BPY unitholders to either monetise their units in cash at a premium to recent trading prices, continue to invest with us in the upside of the portfolio via Brookfield shares, or select BPY preferred units designed for income-oriented investors who would like to maintain similar dividend income which they receive from BPY today in a preferred instrument, based on what is best for them.”
He added: “The privatisation will allow us to have greater flexibility in operating the portfolio and realising the intrinsic value of BPY’s high-quality assets.”
