Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Simon Backing Out of Bid for GGP

It now appears that that Simon Property Group has decided not to pursue an acquisition of General Growth Properties. According to this story by Daniel Taub in Bloomberg, Simon is “unlikely to move ahead with its buyout offer because of antitrust concerns, the REIT Newshound reported last night, citing sources it didn’t identify. Simon has concluded that an attorney for Chicago-based General Growth who deals with antitrust issues wasn’t dealing in “good faith,” the newsletter said, citing one of the sources.”

Simon hasn’t been happy with the response of GGP’s management since they first announced their hostile takeover bid back in February. GGP wasn’t exactly happy with Simons offer either.

“General Growth dismissed the bid as too low and instead plans to exit bankruptcy with financing from a group led by Brookfield Asset Management Inc.”

Up to this point it had been widely expected that Simon would revise their bid with new partners.

It now appears that the company will move forward with plans to split itself in two with the new entity, General Growth Opportunities taking over most of the companies’ Master Planned Communities projects like Columbia Town Center.

No word yet on where that new company will be headquartered.