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Article: Bill Ackman Has A Lot To Say About General Growth Properties


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http://dealbreaker.com/2012/08/bill-ackman-has-a-lot-to-say-about-general-growth-properties/

 

    At the time that Brookfield negotiated the bankruptcy recapitalization with the GGP board under the supervision of the bankruptcy court, one of the most important considerations of the transaction and one of the most highly negotiated elements of the deal was GGP’s ensuring that the sale of stock and warrants to Brookfield did not represent a sale of control.

 

    Not transferring control to Brookfield was critically important because GGP was selling stock and warrants to Brookfield at a price that did not reflect a control premium to GGP shareholders.

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The actual letter that Ackman wrote is very interesting.

 

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1336528/000119312512366295/d401719dex994.htm

 

Someday, I would like to find the time to go back and dissect the GGP saga.  It would make a fascinating case study.

 

Ackman makes it easy being such a powerpoint jockey. Via Marketfolly:

http://www.marketfolly.com/2010/06/bill-ackmans-ira-sohn-presentation.html

http://www.marketfolly.com/2009/06/pershing-squares-general-growth.html

 

I also enjoyed the "debate" with Hovde Capital:

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-02-16/wall_street/30090966_1_ggp-commercial-real-estate-gold-mine

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The actual letter that Ackman wrote is very interesting.

 

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1336528/000119312512366295/d401719dex994.htm

 

Someday, I would like to find the time to go back and dissect the GGP saga.  It would make a fascinating case study.

 

Ackman makes it easy being such a powerpoint jockey. Via Marketfolly:

http://www.marketfolly.com/2010/06/bill-ackmans-ira-sohn-presentation.html

http://www.marketfolly.com/2009/06/pershing-squares-general-growth.html

 

I also enjoyed the "debate" with Hovde Capital:

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-02-16/wall_street/30090966_1_ggp-commercial-real-estate-gold-mine

 

Will take a look at these again, thanks.  At some point, I'd also like to go through the BK docket to understand how this was the most successful reorg ever.

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I really think it's interesting that Ackman is picking a fight here over GGP. In my opinion, he just wants to get out of his position and is willing to push his old partners at BAM around in order to get another buck or two.

 

I was there before bankruptcy and followed Ackman into the position. First bought some shares (not enough) at $0.58. The price started to go higher on me while I was accumulating so I stopped. Regret it now but got most of my position and knew it had the risk of permanent loss of capital, so was pretty conservative. I believed that  there was value despite the potential bankruptcy.  The push to file for bankruptcy by Ackman as the activist was actually the main catalyst because it was the only way to reorganize the company's mismatched liabilities. There problem was in the terms of their debt and the capital structure was heavily skewed towards short-term. They had an inability to roll over the short-term debts into long-term or even other short-term while the credit markets were closed.  The court cases generated mountains of paperwork.

 

It was also very similar to a previous play that had gotten Ackman his start. I can't find any thing right now but basically while Ackman was an MBA student at Harvard, he invested in Alexander's (ALX) when they went through a debt restructuring scenario that would lead to bankruptcy. He calculated the equity value exceeding their debt obligations and went on to make a tremendous return on his investment, enough to pay outright for his MBA tuition.  It was actually a very similar scenario.

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craigatk

 

hmm strange i don't see it that way, I think ackman is doing the right thing here.

 

BAM can effectively (slowly, little by little) take over GGP.

 

I for one as a shareholder would like to get a control premium via what ackman is doing.

 

hy

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also remember BAM  has member on GGP's board while at the same time the same individual is on BAM's board.

 

now how can this person be objective when it comes to making decision that is in the best interest of GGP's shareholders vs BAM's shareholders.

 

I don't see how this person can be objective.

 

hy

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