NEW YORK CITY—Brookfield Property Partners (BPY) said Thursday that its offer to buy the shares of GGP Inc. that it doesn't already own still stands, although GGP's board reportedly rejected the original bid this past December. The original cash-and-stock deal was valued at $23 per share, or approximately $14.8 billion.

“We continue to believe that this transaction is in the best long-term interests of both BPY and GGP shareholders, and hope to come to an agreement in the near future with the special committee of GGP's board of directors that is currently considering the proposal,” BPY said Thursday in its fourth-quarter 2017 earnings release. On Wednesday's GGP earnings call, Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of the Chicago-based mall REIT, acknowledged BPY's initial bid but declined to address any questions about the proposal, “because the offer is in the hands of the special committee and Brookfield.”

GGP's apparent rejection of the initial bid for the 66% of outstanding shares not under BPY control was never formally announced. Nor did Mathrani mention the rejection on Wednesday's call. BPY and its parent, Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), reportedly have gone back to the drawing board on the proposal.