Brookfield Expects to Complete MPG Deal Next Week

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Brookfield Office Properties Inc. on Thursday said that it expects to close its $180 million acquisition of downtown L.A. office landlord MPG Office Trust Inc. by Tuesday.

Brookfield, which has headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, earlier received approval from MPG’s common stockholders and consent from MPG’s lenders, but has been delayed in completing a cash tender offer to purchase MPG’s preferred shares.

Common shareholders, who are to receive $3.15 a share, approved the deal in July, but Brookfield has seen resistance from other shareholders to the $25-a-preferred-share tender offer. A group of preferred shareholders said in a July lawsuit said the offer did not reflect the value of dividends they say they should have received since 2008, when the struggling real estate investment trust suspended dividend payments.

Brookfield has pushed back its deadline several times since the tender offer was launched in June. The deadline has now been extended to 3 p.m. Monday.

The merger was first announced in April. The total deal is valued at $2.2 billion, including assumption of debt and net cash proceeds from the recent sale of MPG’s U.S. Bank Tower.

MPG shares closed up 1 cent, or less than 1 percent, to $2.15 on the New York Stock Exchange.