Forest City had been looking to sell itself and had reached out to more than 50 potential buyers, but failed to strike a deal. In March, it abandoned the sale process before settling with three shareholders to have nine directors resign and largely be replaced by independent nominees.

Brookfield said it would pay $25.35 in cash for each Forest City share. The offer represents a premium of about 10 percent to Forest City's Monday close of $23.02.

Shares of Cleveland, Ohio-based Forest City were trading at $25.03.

The deal is for $6.77 billion, according to Reuters calculations, excluding debt.

Forest City's portfolio includes office space, life science assets, retail space and multifamily units, as well as large-scale projects in New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Bloomberg reported in June that Forest City had restarted talks with Brookfield for a buyout.

(Reporting by John Benny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)