Nelson Rising, who stepped down as chief executive of MPG Office Trust Inc. earlier this month, butted heads with the company’s board on numerous issues including raising equity, selling properties and whether the company should be put on the block, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some board members felt Rising was shopping around the company, the largest owner of office buildings in downtown Los Angeles, despite their instructions not to do so, these people said. Rising disputes this and says he always kept the board fully informed about what he was doing.
During the past two years, the company has fielded a number of acquisition and merger inquiries from other REITs and private-equity investors, including office landlord Brookfield Properties Corp. and Kennedy Wilson, a Beverly Hills real-estate firm, according to people familiar with the matter. Rising also was apparently frustrated with the board’s resistance to raising third-party equity, exploring a merger with another company or even hiring an investment adviser,
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