Brookfield sold out of three major assets in the second quarter to pay down finance raised for the purchase of Canary Wharf and Brookfield Office Properties.
The sale of the three assets across the US raised $650m, allowing the company to pay off $500m of the $1.5bn acquisition finance facility it raised to finance the purchases.
The sale of the assets, a 49% stake in 75 State Street Boston, another 49% stake in an eight-office portfolio in Washington DC, and the remaining stake in Metropolitan Park in Seattle, were part of a strategy to sell assets or raise equity to finance future projects or acquisitions rather than seek debt.
In keeping with the strategy, the company said in its second quarter update that it intends to further pay down the acquisition facility to $475m by the end of the year by completing the sale of an interest in 99 Bishopsgate (pictured) to QIA and China Life.
The company’s second-quarter results also said that higher than expected rental income and improved leasing activity had pushed the net income of the business to more than $1bn for the second quarter.
The leasing activity is set to continue strongly for the rest of the year, with the development at 100 Bishopsgate expected to sign a key tenant into 300,000 sq ft of space by the end of September.
