General Growth Announces Management Changes
October 27 2008 - 7:30AM
Business Wire
General Growth Properties, Inc. (NYSE:GGP) today announced that two
independent directors of the company will assume senior management
positions effective immediately. Adam Metz will serve as interim
Chief Executive Officer, and Thomas H. Nolan Jr. will serve as
interim President, positions previously held by John Bucksbaum and
Robert A. Michaels, respectively. Mr. Bucksbaum will continue to
serve as Chairman and Mr. Michaels will continue to serve as Chief
Operating Officer and a senior officer of the company. In order to
maintain a majority of independent directors, Mr. Michaels has also
given up his Board seat. �Adam and Tom bring a wealth of real
estate and finance experience to our company,� said Mr. Bucksbaum.
�I fully support the Board of Director�s decision to have them join
the senior management team, given their deep knowledge of our
industry and extensive relationships.� �We recognize that we are
facing unprecedented challenges in this economic environment, and
we are committed to working with all our stakeholders to achieve a
successful outcome to our strategic review process,� said Mr. Metz.
�John and Bob remain committed to the company�s success and will
continue to play important roles both in the strategic review
process and in the ongoing operations of the company. Tom and I
look forward to working with both of them.� The company�s Board of
Directors and management team, along with its financial and legal
advisors, continue to be fully engaged in a comprehensive
evaluation of all financial and strategic alternatives for the
company, including but not limited to, asset sales, joint ventures,
corporate level capital infusions, and broader strategic business
combinations. Along with other assets currently being marketed, the
company�s Board of Directors and management team have elected to
market for sale its portfolio of retail properties in Las Vegas,
NV: Fashion Show Mall, Grand Canal Shoppes, and The Palazzo.
Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Eastdil Secured will be jointly
responsible for the marketing effort, which is expected to begin
immediately. In conjunction with the sale process, the company is
working with its syndicate of lenders on Fashion Show Mall and The
Palazzo to extend the November 28, 2008 maturity date. The company
continues to remain current on all of its debt obligations. Adam S.
Metz, 47, is a founding partner of Polaris Capital LLC. Before
founding Polaris, Mr. Metz was Executive Vice President and Chief
Investment Officer of Rodamco, North America, with approximately $6
billion of real estate assets primarily in regional malls.
Previously, he had been President, Chief Financial Officer and
Director of Acquisitions for Urban Shopping Centers, Inc. where he
worked from 1993 until its sale in 2000. Prior to joining Urban, he
held positions in the Capital Markets group of JMB Realty and in
the Commercial Real Estate Lending Group at The First National Bank
of Chicago. Thomas H. Nolan Jr., 51, was most recently a Managing
Director of Trefethen & Co, a real estate advisory and
investment firm. From 1984 to 2004, Mr. Nolan held various
positions at AEW Capital Management LP, a national real estate
investment advisor, including President and Senior Portfolio of the
AEW Partners Group, the Private Equity division of AEW, as well as
serving as a member of the firm�s Management and Investment
Committees. At AEW, Mr. Nolan also represented institutional
clients in the overall management of their real estate portfolios
with services ranging from troubled debt restructuring to initial
public offerings, including representing a client on the
Partnership Committee of the Taubman Realty Group. The Company also
announced that it has recently come to the attention of the Board
that an affiliate of a Bucksbaum family trust advanced unsecured
loans to Mr. Michaels and Bernard Freibaum, the company�s former
director and CFO, for the purpose of repaying personal margin debt
relating to company stock. The loan to Mr. Michaels, which totaled
$10 million, has been repaid in full. The loan to Mr. Freibaum,
whose employment was terminated prior to the Board�s knowledge of
these loans, totaled $90 million and has $80 million presently
outstanding. A review by the Company�s independent directors
concluded that, while the failure to disclose the loans to the
Company�s Board of Directors did not follow internal company
policy, no company assets or resources were involved in the loans
and that no laws or Securities and Exchange Commission rules were
violated as a result of the loans. ABOUT GENERAL GROWTH PROPERTIES,
INC. General Growth is a U.S.-based publicly traded Real Estate
Investment Trust (REIT). The Company currently has ownership
interest in, or management responsibility for, a portfolio of more
than 200 regional shopping malls in 44 states, as well as ownership
in master planned community developments and commercial office
buildings. The Company's portfolio totals approximately 200 million
square feet and includes over 24,000 retail stores nationwide. The
Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
GGP. This press release contains forward-looking statements,
including information regarding our expected liquidity and future
financing and other transactions that have not yet closed. Actual
results may differ materially from the results suggested by these
forward-looking statements, for a number of reasons, including, but
not limited to, the retail market, tenant occupancy and tenant
bankruptcies, the level of indebtedness and interest rates, market
conditions, land sales in the Master Planned Communities segment,
the cost and success of development and re-development projects and
our ability to successfully manage growth. Readers are referred to
the documents filed by General Growth Properties, Inc. with the
SEC, specifically the most recent report on Forms 10-K and 10-Q,
which further identify the important risk factors which could cause
actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking
statements in this release. The Company disclaims any obligation to
update any forward-looking statements.
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