Brookfield upheaval spins off flagship property trust

Brookfield Asset Management is to create a $US900 million [$864 million] property trust in April through the distribution of a special dividend to shareholders, it was announced on the weekend.

The group, which owns Multiplex in Australia, will place a majority of its commercial assets into the trust as part of its consolidation of the business units.

In a statement at the weekend, it says each shareholder will receive one BPY unit for every 17.42 shares of Brookfield. The dividend is estimated to be valued about $US1.45 per Brookfield Class A or B share, or about $900 million in the aggregate.

Immediately following the distribution, BPY will effectively be owned about 7.5 per cent by the shareholders of Brookfield and about 92.5 per cent by Brookfield.

The group said the new trust would be Brookfield's flagship commercial property company and the primary entity through which Brookfield would carry on its commercial property operations on a global basis.

BPY's goal is to be the leading global investor in best in class commercial property assets.

"BPY will own substantially all of Brookfield's commercial property operations, including its office, retail, multi-family and industrial assets," the company said.

"BPY's portfolio will include interests in over 300 office and retail properties. BPY will have interests in about 12,200 multi-family units, 7 million square feet of industrial space and an 18 million square foot office development pipeline."