General Growth
From staff and wire reports
to own bigger
stake of Ala MoanaCHICAGO -- Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. said today its purchase of the Ala Moana Center now might run to as much as 75 or even 100 percent ownership.
General Growth, which was already managing the 50-acre center, announced in early May it would buy Hawaii's largest mall for $810 million from financially troubled Daiei Inc. At the time, General Growth said it intended to bring in partners and expected to end up with a 20-to-35 percent share of the ownership.
Discussing a stock issue, in which the company today raised about $332 million to finance acquisitions and developments, John Bucksbaum, chief executive officer, said the real estate investment trust now plans to hold on to a much larger share of Ala Moana.
Bucksbaum told Bloomberg News that the larger stake doesn't indicate the company is having trouble locating partners.
"It's quite the opposite," he said. "We have had a strong amount of interest. We want a partner who brings more to the table than money, such as potential assets we could buy in the future."
General Growth, which owns and manages 125 malls in 39 states with a total of 100 million square feet of space, has said it expects to conclude the Ala Moana deal by the end of this month.
After General Growth sold 10 million new common shares at a below-market price today, its shares fell $1.87, or 5.3 percent, to $33 on the New York Stock Exchange as investors and analysts questioned the reasoning behind the share sale.
