General Growth Wins Judge's Approval for Mortgage Restructuring

"Mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. on Thursday won a judge's approval for the final mortgage restructuring in its massive bankruptcy case, extending by four years the due date of a formerly contentious loan from lenders led by Citigroup Inc.

The Oakwood Center mortgage was the last of 108 secured loans totaling $15 billion that General Growth needed to restructure in bankruptcy court.

'We started this process nine months ago with the goal of building as much consensus as possible and having a fair resolution to the problems that GGP faced,' said Anup Sathy, a Kirkland & Ellis LLP attorney who handled General Growth's negotiations to restructure its secured debt. 'We're appreciative of the support and cooperation that we received from the lenders.'"

This article appeared in its entirety in the May 20, 2010 edition of The Wall Street Journal