HAMILTON, BERMUDA—Brookfield Property Partners and Qatar Investment Authority have forged an alliance whereby the QIA will pay $1.8 billion for a stake in BPY and the two organizations will form a 50/50 joint venture to bid on London's Canary Wharf complex. QIA will own approximately 9% of BPY following the company's issue of exchangeable preferred equity securities to the sovereign wealth fund.

“The placement of $1.8 billion of equity is a great endorsement of our global premier asset strategy,” says BPY CEO Ric Clark. “We are on the path to building the world's leading portfolio of best-in-class property assets. This capital will enable us to launch BPY to the next phase.”

The exchange will take place in three tranches of $600 million each, at a price of US $25.70 per unit. QIA's stake in BPY will give it the right to designate one member of the REIT's board.

The JV between BPY and QIA intends to make an offer to acquire the outstanding ordinary shares of Songbird Estates plc, which in turn owns approximately 69% of Canary Wharf Group plc. Should the Songbird offer be successful, JV will then offer to buy the 31% of the outstanding shares of Canary Wharf not already owned by Songbird. QIA currently owns approximately 29% of Songbird, and BPY owns approximately 22% of Canary Wharf.