Simon-GGP deal would create megamall owner
Deal would combine rival Neshaminy, Oxford malls under one owner
UPDATE: No, we're worth more, General Growth Properties tells Simon Property Group, refusing Simon's $10 billion offer. Bloomberg report here.
EARLIER: Simon Property Group's proposed $10 billion takeover of bankrupt General Growth Properties, besides picking up hundreds of malls at one-third or less of what GGP paid for them and creating by far the nation's biggest mall operator (with leverage over US store chains), would further concentrate ownership of the Philadelphia region's shopping centers.
Simon is part-owner of the giant King of Prussia shopping complex (nearly 3 million square feet), the nearly 2M sq ft Franklin Mills complex in Philadelphia, the 1M+ Oxford Valley, Lehigh Valley, Montgomery and Granite Run malls, plus the smaller centers at Springfield and Liberty Plaza, and the Philadelphia Premium Outlets up in Limerick (which Simon owns outright.)
General Growth owns the million-square-foot Neshaminy and Christiana malls, plus the larger Park City Center complex near Lancaster.
Rival Ron Rubin's Pennsylvania Real Estate Trust owns the Willow Grove, Exton, Plymouth Meeting, Cherry Hill, Moorestown, Voorhees, and Gallery malls.