Maguire Stock Rallies on Orange County Sale

0

Shares of Maguire Properties Inc. jumped nearly 50 percent Monday after the company announced it had sold an Orange County office building for a reported $160 million, continuing a strategy of unloading properties outside its downtown Los Angeles base to pare down its debt.

The L.A. real estate investment trust sold a 19-story building at 3161 Michelson Drive in Irvine to Emmes Group of Cos., a New York investment firm. The Wall Street Journal reported that the sale price was $160 million, representing a steep discount on the construction costs of the project.

With the sale, Maguire has sold six properties in Orange County since May 2008, including one three-building property in Orange that the Business Journal reported on in its current, June 15 issue.

Maguire Chief Executive Nelson Rising told the Business Journal that he is seeking to increase the company’s liquidity and looming debt maturities. Maguire’s debt on the Irvine project was scheduled to mature in September, according to the company.

Shares of Maguire closed up 50 cents, or 47 percent, to $1.57 on the New York Stock Exchange.

No posts to display