Finance: Brookfield wants to buy mall-owner GGP for $14.8 billion

Traffic to malls has been declining as more customers have chosen to shop more online

Brookfield Asset Management has proposed to buy the mall owner GGP for $14.8 billion to expand its real estate footprint.

The Canadian investor is offering $23 per share for the outstanding shares it doesn't own, it said in a statement on Monday. Brookfield already has a roughly 34% stake in GGP that it first bought in 2010 to rescue the company from bankruptcy. The offer confirmed earlier news reports.

The combined company would own assets worth about $100 billion, Brookfield said, giving the asset manager access to more so-called class A retail spaces in urban centers. Traffic to malls has been declining as more customers have chosen to shop online, forcing some mall owners to find other uses for their properties.

In a separate statement, GGP acknowledged that it received the offer on Saturday, and has created a special committee to look into it. Goldman Sachs will work with the committee as financial advisor.

GGP shares rose 4% premarket to $23.50, topping the offer price.

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