Projo Biz Blog

General Growth Properties , the owner of Providence Place mall, laced its latest federal regulatory filings with cautionary language about its precarious financial position.

The company appears to be on the brink of bankruptcy. "Given the continued weakness of the retail and credit markets, there can be no assurance that we can obtain further extensions or refinance our existing debt or obtain the additional capital necessary to satisfy our short term cash needs," the company wrote in a Feb. 26 filing. "Our potential inability to address our past due and future debt maturities raise substantial doubts as to our ability to continue as a going concern."

Shares of General Growth (GGP:NYSE) have lost 99 percent of their market value in the last year, as the Chicago-based real-estate investment trust has struggled to keep up with its debt payments.

The company has nearly $1.2 billion in past-due debt and about $4.09 billion of debt that could be accelerated. Last week, General Growth reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $965,000, compared with net income of $58.7 million in the same period a year earlier.

General Growth manages or has ownership stakes in more than 200 malls in 44 states, including Providence Place mall. It is trying to sell Providence Place to raise cash.

"We continue to work with our financial advisors and lender groups to reach a collectively satisfactory resolution of these liquidity and financing difficulties," the company said.

 Tags  bankruptcy economy General Growth Properties Providence Place recession Rhode Island taxes

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