Hedge funds and other investors now stand to make billions of dollars from their holdings in bankrupt US mall owner General Growth Properties.

Among the biggest potential winners is William Ackmanâ??s Pershing Square Capital Management, which is sitting on a paper profit of more than $800m on investments in the debt and equity of GGP. Other investors that stand to make big profits on holdings in the high-profile retail property owner include Centerbridge Partners, Elliott Associates, Goldman Sachs, John Paulsonâ??s Paulson & Co and York Capital.

GGP, owner of malls including Bostonâ??s Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Honoluluâ??s Ala Moana Center, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April. It has about $22bn in senior secured debt and $6bn in debt not backed by collateral.

In the midths of the financial crisis the value of GGPâ??s unsecured debt fell below 10 cents on the dollar. That debt has soared to 95 cents as markets have revived amid unprecedented stimulus efforts. Equity in the mall owner, which is traded over the counter, has risen to about $7 a share from less than a dollar.