The efforts of Robert Maguire III to buy a sizable portion of the company he founded may be bolstered by a letter from Brookfield Properties Corp. offering to purchase Maguire Properties Inc.’s Los Angeles properties for nearly $750 million, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Maguire’s offer to buy 75% of Maguire Properties, which came earlier this week, was rejected by a special independent committee of the board. The committee didn’t disclose Brookfield’s involvement to the public in its news release about the bid.

Shareholders, especially hedge funds that have been pressuring the company for change, may use Brookfield’s participation as a reason to urge the committee to reconsider.

Mr. Maguire, who built much of the Los Angeles downtown skyline, including the 72-story U.S. Bank Tower, is in danger of losing control of Maguire Properties, which he serves as chairman. A number of hedge funds have taken a sizable position in the real estate investment trust and have been threatening to put a new slate of officers up for election if the company is not sold or if the board does not take dramatic steps to forge a turnaround.

However, the company has been unable to find buyers during this credit crunch when few transactions are getting done. About a month ago, the independent committee announced that it was scrapping plans to sell.

Instead, the board has been working on a plan not to renew Mr. Maguire’s contract and to hire a new chief executive, according to several people familiar with the matter. That means that Mr. Maguire needs to move swiftly if he hopes to buy the company before a new management team is installed.

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