Brookfield Property Partners Invests $1.4 Bln To Rise Stake In GGP To 32%

(RTTNews) - Brookfield Property Partners L.P. (BPY, BPY_UN.TO) announced Friday that it has agreed to acquire additional shares and warrants of General Growth Properties, Inc. (GGP) for total consideration of $1.4 billion.

As a result of the acquisition, Brookfield Property Partners said it will increase its fully-diluted ownership interest in GGP to 32%, assuming the exercise of all of the outstanding warrants or approximately 28% on an undiluted basis.

Brookfield Property Partners stated that it will continue to hold its interest in a consortium alongside institutional investors who, collectively with Brookfield Property Partners, will own approximately 40% of GGP on a fully-diluted basis.

"As a result of this and GGP's strong organic growth prospects, we believe that the investment will earn a return that exceeds our target range of 12% to 15%," said Ric Clark, Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield Property Group.

The company noted that the acquisition will be funded through the issuance of $435 million of units of Brookfield Property Partners to Investment Corporation of Dubai and other institutional investors and $995 million of redeemable-exchangeable units of a subsidiary of Brookfield Property Partners to Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM, BAM_A.TO).

Following completion of the transaction, the public float of Brookfield Property Partners will increase by 28% ($435 million). Brookfield Property Partners previously announced its intention to make an offer to acquire any or all of the common shares of Brookfield Office Properties Inc.(BPO, BPO.TO) that it does not already own. If fully successful, Brookfield Property Partners' public float could increase to over $5 billion.