Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. will sell 6.0 million common shares in a public offering and expects to grant a 30-day option for the underwriters to acquire up to 900,000 additional shares.

The urban office real estate investment trust is launching the offering in connection with the forward-sale agreements it expects to enter into with Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Bank of America NA, Citibank NA and JPMorgan Chase Bank NA London Branch.

Based on the company's Jan. 6 closing stock price of $161.03 per share, gross offering proceeds are expected to total approximately $1.11 billion, including the additional-share option.

The REIT expects to use any net proceeds it receives upon the future settlement of the forward-sale agreements mainly to finance pending and recently closed acquisitions, as well as development projects.

Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan are the joint book-running managers for the offering.