Simon Properties offers General Growth $10B buyout

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Mall owner Simon Property Group said Tuesday that it made a $10 billion offer to acquire its ailing rival, General Growth Properties.

The real estate company said its bid totals $7 billion to creditors and about $3 billion to General Growth shareholders. Simon also said its offer might be amended so shareholders could receive Simon stock instead of cash.

The offer amounts to $9 per share for the Chicago real estate company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year. Parts of its plan to restructure $10.25 billion in debt related to 103 properties were approved in December.

Simon submitted its offer to the nation's second-largest mall owner Feb. 8. But it made the offer public Tuesday, claiming it had not yet received a "substantive response" from executives.

A spokesman for General Growth, which owns or manages more than 200 U.S. malls, had no immediate comment on the deal.