Local Digest

CORPORATE LENDING

General Growth Properties said lenders have agreed to restructureabout $9.7 billion in debt under a plan that will allow 92 of itsproperties to emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of theyear.

The company, which owns or manages more than 200 malls, includingLandmark Mall in Alexandria and Tysons Galleria in McLean, will payoff loans that cover regional shopping centers, offices, communitycenters and related subsidiaries. The plan will allow the realestate investment trust to retain ownership of the properties,including the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu and the Harborplace & theGallery in Baltimore.

Greg Cross, an attorney representing the largest block of securedGeneral Growth creditors, said lenders extended the length of theirloans in exchange for full repayment, plus interest and bankruptcycosts.

The plan will go before a U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Dec. 15.

-- Associated Press

INVESTING

AOL was passed over for inclusion in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, forcing fund managers who track the benchmark for U.S.stocks to dump shares of the Internet pioneer.

The company was picked for the S&P MidCap 400 index, a measure ofcompanies with a median market value of $2.16 billion. Because S&P500 funds cannot own stocks outside the index, they will probablysell 5.3 million more AOL shares than S&P MidCap 400 managers willbuy, or about 5 percent of company stock, Douglas Anmuth, a New York-based analyst at Barclays, estimated in a Nov. 24 report.

Time Warner is set to spin off AOL next week, unwinding the $240billion merger of 2001.

AOL, which is based in New York but maintains a large campus inthe Dulles area, will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange onDec. 10. In when-issued trading Wednesday, AOL stock fell 58 cents,to $24.00.

-- Bloomberg News