Deal will make real estate giant a world leader

Global real estate giant Brookfield Property Partners has put in an offer for units in Brookfield Office Properties that it does not already own, which would make it one of the largest global commercial real estate landlords.

In a statement from the US, Brookfield Office Properties board of directors said they had established a special committee to consider the proposal.

Under the scheme, Brookfield Property was planning a tender offer of the New York-based landlord's shares for stock or cash valued at $US19.34 ($20.63) each, which was a 15 per cent premium to the closing price and valued the shares at about $US5 billion.

Brookfield Property was spun out of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management this year and currently owns 51 per cent of Brookfield Office, which in turn owns, develops and manages 109 office properties in the US, Canada, Australia and Britain, making it the global leader in the ownership and management of office assets.

The chief executive of Brookfield Property Group, Ric Clark, said the offer provided an attractive opportunity for Brookfield Office shareholders to exchange their common shares for an interest in the flagship global property company.

"The combination of these leading commercial real estate platforms will create a diversified portfolio of best-in-class real estate for investors seeking attractive risk-adjusted returns, through income and capital appreciation," Mr Clark said.

"In addition, we believe this transaction will consolidate our global office properties under one platform and substantially increase Brookfield Property Partners' public float which should help accelerate our growth strategy."

In Australia Brookfield Office Property owns, and has interests in, a range of assets. In Sydney these include: the Darling Park complex; One Shelley Street and King Street Wharf retail; the Ernst & Young Centre at 680 George Street and others in Parramatta and North Sydney. In Melbourne it has the Southern Cross East and West Towers and Bourke Place. In Perth it has Brookfield Place and the Ernst & Young tower.

A spokeswoman said the proposed offer would not have any impact on the Australian operations. But property analysts said the deal, if approved, would no doubt give the Australian operations significant buying power in the tightly-held commercial real estate market.