General Growth Properties Inc., the Chicago-based developer that owns the Mall in Columbia and the majority of property downtown, has received another offer to rescue the company from bankruptcy.

Two of the company's debt and equity holders, Fairholme Capital Management, LCC and Pershing Square Capital Management, have offered a $3.9 billion investment, according to a news release posted on General Growth's Web site March 9.

The offer, combined with a more than $2 billion deal with Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc., and $1.5 billion in new debt insurance, would generate enough capital to help the company emerge from bankruptcy, according to the release.

The plan is subject to approval of the company's board of directors and to the bankruptcy court.

"Our goal is to raise capital in the most cost-efficient way to maximize value for all of our stakeholders," GGP Chief Executive Officer Adam Metz said in the statement.

Last week, the company was granted an exclusivity extension for filing a plan of reorganization, giving GGP until July 15 to explain how it would emerge from Chapter 11.

During this exclusivity period, which was initially scheduled to end in February, competing plans from other entities are not permitted.

"We are pleased with the Bankruptcy Court's decision" to grant the extension, Metz said in a statement released by the company March 3. "The extension is consistent with our timeline for evaluating all alternatives for emergence and recognizes our tremendous accomplishments in these large and complex Chapter 11 cases in a short amount of time."

Last month GGP rejected a bid from Simon Property Group, the national mall giant that owns Arundel Mills and Marley Station malls, to buy the entire company for $10 billion.

The exclusivity extension and purchase offers come on the heels of a recent county zoning and master plan change that allows GGP to build up to 5,500 new residential units, 5 million square feet of office space and 1.25 million square feet of retail space in Columbia during the next 30 years.

Opponents to the plan initially worried the company would be sold piecemeal, making it difficult to enforce community enhancement benchmarks.

Before its passage, the legislation was amended to include language making it applicable to future owners. Gregory Hamm, vice president for master planned communities for GGP, said redevelopment downtown is protected by the new laws.

"What we've said all along with respect to the zoning and the master plan process of Columbia (is) good planning and zoning runs with the land," he said. "So Columbia's not going anywhere."

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