MELBOURNE, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Shares in Australia's troubled Centro Properties Group (CNP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), which owns 700 U.S. shopping malls, were put on a trading halt on Friday ahead of a deadline to refinance some A$3.9 billion ($3.5 billion) of debt.
The Australian stock exchange said the shares were halted pending an announcement, but no further details were given.
Centro, one of Australia's biggest casualties of the global credit crunch, got into trouble when it borrowed heavily to fund expansion, but used short-term debt to finance long-term investments.
Friday 4 p.m. (0500 GMT) is the deadline for Centro to negotiate a refinancing deal with its Australian and U.S. creditors. It needs more time to restructure, sell assets to raise cash, or find a cornerstone investor.
Centro said in December that it and its affiliates were struggling to refinance A$3.9 billion ($3.5 billion) of debt, triggering an 80 percent collapse in its share price.
Its main local bankers are Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd (CBA.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) and National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB.AX: Quote, Profile, Research).
CBA revealed earlier this week it had an A$160 million ($144 million) unsecured exposure to Centro. The other banks have declined to quantify their unsecured exposure.
Centro also has U.S. bank creditors including JP Morgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and private noteholders who are owed $450 million.
About two-thirds of Centro's shopping centres are in the United States, with the remainder in Australia and New Zealand. Its assets are held in a complicated web of managed funds and syndicates.
It opened its books to interested parties in late January and said it had significant interest in some assets, including the Centro Australia Wholesale Fund and the Centro America Fund. ($1=A$1.11) (Reporting by Victoria Thieberger; Editing by James Thornhill)
Ends.
Cheers, Pie :-)
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