Tishman Speyer Properties, a privately held American real estate developer and owner, plans to raise about $424 million from Australian investors, selling shares in an American office building fund.

New York-based Tishman Speyer, which controls assets such as the city’s Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center, plans to sell about 46% of Australian Tishman Speyer Office Fund for about $2 Australian apiece, giving investors a stake in 12 buildings worth $1.85 billion in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

“We’ve been thrilled by investors’ reactions” after Tishman Speyer took Australian property fund managers on a tour of the properties, Senior Managing Director Robert Speyer told reporters in Sydney.

The company said it lodged documents for the sale with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission on Tuesday.

Demand for real estate funds is rising as aging populations from Japan to Europe seek steady, low-risk investment returns. In Australia, companies are required to contribute to employee pension plans, which has spurred a search for higher-yielding investments and made the nation’s property-trust industry one of the world’s most developed.

The new office fund shares will be offered from November 17 to November 29 and are expected to start trading on the Australian Stock Exchange December 1, the company said. The trust will pay an annualized dividend of 7.9% after its first seven months of operation, and yield 8.5% in the year ending June 30, 2006.