NEW YORK — Canadian property manager Brookfield Asset Management is preparing to bid for a large slice of General Growth Properties. It’s an effort to block rival Simon Property Group Inc. from acquiring the giant shopping-mall operator, a newspaper reported.
Simon made an unsolicited $10 billion offer for General Growth last week but was rebuffed. General Growth’s shares soared as investors speculated another suitor would bid more.
Brookfield’s offer would enable General Growth to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with Brookfield as its largest shareholder, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The report cites unidentified people familiar with the matter.
A Brookfield spokesman declined to comment, as did General Growth.
General Growth owns or manages 200 shopping malls in 44 states, including Park Meadows and Southwest Plaza in the Denver metro area, Foothills Mall in Fort Collins and Chapel Hills Mall and Austin Bluffs Plaza in Colorado Springs.
It filed for bankruptcy last year after buckling under the weight of billions in debt it racked up during a massive expansion fueled by cheap credit.
General Growth has said it is entertaining offers to sell the company but wants to emerge from bankruptcy first. But unless the Chicago-based company can raise enough money to pay off its remaining creditors, that will be difficult.
