Simon to split off smaller malls into new company

Simon Property Group, owner of most of the major shopping malls in New Hampshire, has announced a plan to spin off its strip centers and smaller malls into a separate, publicly traded company.

As a result, no New Hampshire properties in the area are affected.

Simon owns the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, Merrimack Premium Outlets, the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem and the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester and the Mall at Fox Run in Newington.

The newly created company will own or have an interest in 54 strip centers and 44 smaller malls, which generate annual net operating income of about $10 million or less.

It will operate 53 million square feet of retail space in 23 states. Like Simon, it will be a real estate investment trust, or REIT.

Simon estimated that the spin-off’s portfolio would generate net operating income its first year of $400 million, and $2 billion in debt.