General Growth names Mathrani CEO

General Growth Properties Inc., the shopping-mall company planning to exit bankruptcy next month, hired Vornado Realty Trust's Sandeep Mathrani as chief executive officer.

Mathrani, 48, has been executive vice president in New York-based Vornado's retail division for more than eight years. He will assume the CEO position at General Growth at the beginning of the year, succeeding Adam Metz, who has held the position since October 2008, the Chicago-based company said today in a statement.

“Sandeep is an exceptionally talented individual who has a proven track record as one of the best retail executives in America,” Bruce Flatt, General Growth's chairman-elect, said in the statement.

General Growth this month won court approval for the last stage of its restructuring, a year and a half after filing the biggest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history. The company filed for bankruptcy after it was unable to refinance debt because of the financial crisis and the collapse of the commercial mortgage-backed securities market.

Before joining Vornado in 2002, Mathrani was an executive vice president of Forest City Ratner, an affiliate of Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc., from 1994 to 2002.

General Growth, the second-biggest U.S. shopping-mall owner, has stakes in 185 retail centers in 43 states. Simon Property Group Inc. is the largest U.S. mall owner.