Canada’s Brookfield invests another $1.4 billion in General Growth Properties

Canada Nov 5, 2013 : Brookfield Property Partners has agreed to buy an additional $1.4 billion worth of General Growth stock, bringing its stake in the Chicago–based REIT to 32 percent. “As a result of this and General Growth’s strong organic growth prospects, we believe that the investment will earn a return that exceeds our target range of 12 percent to 15 percent,” said Ric Clark, CEO of Brookfield Property Group, in a press release. Brookfield Property Partners, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management, owns 300 office and retail properties totaling 250 million square feet. Its portfolio also includes a 37 percent stake in General Growth spinoff Rouse Properties and 2.9 million square feet of Brazilian retail properties.

The transaction is part of a reorganization of a Brookfield Asset Management-led consortium of investors that helped recapitalize General Growth when it emerged from bankruptcy protection in March 2010. In April 2013, Brookfield Property Partners bought Brookfield’s interest in the consortium. Now, several of the original investors have cashed out, and the consortium is being consolidated. Its total stake in General Growth will be 40 percent after the latest deal closes in the fourth quarter.

General Growth Properties owns 123 regional malls encompassing 128 million square feet. CCI Newswire