SAO PAULO, Brazil—BR Properties S.A., one of Brazil's largest commercial real estate firms, has agreed to sell an office portfolio to Brookfield Asset Management. The portfolio, which includes seven newly built office properties in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, is trading for  approximately R$2.1 billion, or US$590 million. It includes the assumption of approximately US$227 million in debt.

BAM is acquiring the BR portfolio on behalf of Brookfield Strategic Real Estate Partners II, its latest global real estate fund. “Brazil is undergoing extreme pressure, but the country has a strong democracy, with an emerging middle class,” BAM CEO Bruce Flatt said during the company's earnings call earlier this month. “As a result, we are investing large sums of capital there, and believe we are acquiring some incredible assets that will be great value investments over the longer term.”

PERE reported Thursday that the BR portfolio acquisition followed an unsuccessful bid by BAM and Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual to take BR private. BAM and BTG launched a tender offer for the company's shares in February, but BR disclosed in July that the transaction would not proceed because the buyers failed to fulfill certain conditions within a specified deadline, according to PERE.

In the interim, the Blackstone Group agreed to buy 10 real estate assets from BR for R$1.07 billion (US $301.28 million), PERE reported earlier this month. The deal was made on behalf of Blackstone's global opportunistic real estate fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII.