General Growth Seeks Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

General Growth Seeks Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- General Growth Properties Inc., the second-largest U.S. shopping-mall owner, filed for bankruptcy after failing to refinance its debt.

General Growth, which owns more than 200 shopping malls throughout the U.S., sought Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The company listed $29.5 billion in total assets and debts of about $27.3 billion, making it one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history.

General Growth, which has said repeatedly it may have to file for bankruptcy, said on March 30 that a deadline for bondholders to agree to new terms for $2.25 billion in debt expired without the minimum number of holders accepting the agreement. The Chicago-based company said on March 30 it’s continuing to talk with creditors.

The bankruptcy filing lists Eurohypo AG, a unit of Commerzbank AG, as General Growth’s largest unsecured creditor, with claims totaling $2.6 billion under two loans. The filing said noteholders are owed about $4 billion in total.

General Growth closed at $1.05 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, valuing the company at $329 million.

General Growth’s history stretches back to 1954, when brothers Matthew and Martin Bucksbaum expanded their family’s grocery business by building the Town and Country Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, one of the Midwest’s first regional shopping malls. General Growth became the No. 2 U.S. mall owner in 1989 when it bought the assets of Center Cos., and in 1993 raised about $300 million in an initial public offering.

BLOOMBERG