Hulen Mall management company could seek bankruptcy protection

Shopping mall management company General Growth Properties Inc., which operates properties in Arlington and Fort Worth, said the weak credit market and overall economic slowdown may prompt it to search for the cash necessary to stay afloat in a variety of ways, including property sales and joint ventures.

The Chicago-based firm has $900 million of property secured debt and $58 million of corporate debt scheduled to mature by Dec. 1, according to a Nov. 10 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. General Growth Properties manages Hulen Mall, The Parks at Arlington, Galleria Dallas and four other North Texas properties in Plano, Mesquite, Lewisville and Frisco. The company also has operations in San Antonio and Houston.

“Given the continued weakness of the retail and credit markets, there can be no assurance that we can obtain such extensions or refinance our existing debt or obtain the additional capital necessary to satisfy our short-term cash needs on satisfactory terms,” according to the statement. “Even if we are successful in addressing these 2008 maturities, an additional $3.07 billion of property and corporate debt is scheduled to mature in 2009. In the event that we are unable to extend or refinance our debt or obtain additional capital on a timely basis and on acceptable terms, we will be required to take further steps to acquire the funds necessary to satisfy our short term cash needs, including seeking legal protection from our creditors.”

General Growth Properties posted a net loss of $0.06 per share, or $15.4 million, for the third quarter 2008, according to a Nov. 5 statement.

Shares of the company, traded under GGP on the New York Stock Exchange, are down 99.3 percent for the year, trading around $0.29 a share. Shares were as high as $43 a share earlier this year, but have lost 94 percent in the past month alone.

Weak spending by consumers has left scores of retail industry players looking into the abyss; Electronics superstore Circuit City Stores Inc. and clothes retailer HaroldÂ’s Stores Inc. filed for bankruptcy within the past week while those companiesÂ’ competitors Best Buy Co. and Nordstrom Inc. have forecasted lower earnings in the months to come.

Contact Tronche at jtronche@bizpress.net