Official reports have confirmed that Simon Property Group Inc. is now looking to take General Growth Properties out of bankruptcy, and in a bid to do the same, the company offered to pay $7 Billion to creditors and about $3 Billion to shareholders on Tuesday, in a deal which would bring together the two largest American shopping mall owners.

General Growth responded on the very same day, stressing that it was exploring all potential alternatives to shake off the bankruptcy, which include a sale and raising of equity from institutional investors, with the aim to continue to be a free-standing company.

Under the proposal sent in by Simon, the company will be paying off General Growth's unsecured creditors, while also giving its equity holders $6 per share, which amounts to about $1.9 Billion, in addition to $3 from a spinoff of the master-planned communities General Growth owns.

"The game has begun", said Jim Sullivan, Green Street Advisors Inc. Managing Director, while noting that by making the offer public, Simon seems to be trying to pressurize General Growth into a negotiation.