Brookfield Property to buy mall operator GGP in $15.3 billion deal

Commercial real estate company Brookfield Property Partners LP said on Monday it would buy GGP Inc, one of the largest owners and operators of U.S. shopping centres, for a total consideration of about $15.3 billion (£10.8 billion).

Brookfield said it would buy GGP for $23.50 per share, compared with its previous offer of $23 per share, and increased the cash consideration by $1.85 billion to $9.25 billion. Cash represents 61 percent of the total deal.

Brookfield is GGP's largest shareholder. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Brookfield had submitted a new offer to take over GGP following the mall operator's rejection in November of its cash and stock offer of $14.8 billion or $23 a share.

GGP shareholders can elect to receive $23.50 in cash for each GGP share, or either one Brookfield unit or one share of a newly created company for each share held, the companies said.

With about 127 properties, mostly in the United States, GGP's tenants include carmaker Tesla Inc, jeweller Tiffany & Co and retailer Macy's Inc.

The acquisition creates a company with an ownership interest in almost $100 billion real estate assets globally and annual net operating income of about $5 billion, according to Brookfield Property.

It's not the first offer made by Brookfield to acquire GGP. In late December, Brookfield's offer of $14.8 billion (11.1 billion pounds) was rejected by GGP, sources told Reuters, sending both parties back to the negotiation table.

Brookfield Property's efforts to buy GGP come as mall owners across the United States are struggling as many brick-and-mortar retailers lose business to e-commerce firms such as Amazon.com Inc.

Additional reporting by Benjamin Fitzgerald