General Growth Properties (GGWPQ.PK) has been in bankruptcy protection since April, after being unable to refinance maturing debts. While General Growth’s record of profitability had been strong, their massive debt load still came back to bite them during the credit crunch. As of their March 31^st 10-Q filing, their debt-to-equity ratio was an astounding 13.8!

General Growth started attracting investor attention in May, however, after hedge fund manager Bill Ackman made the case for buying into the company. Essentially, he believed that in spite of GGWPQ’s bankruptcy filing, equity investors would come out unscathed because the value of their assets was greater than the value of the debts.