Shares of General Growth Properties Inc. rallied today after the Wall Street Journal reported that the nation's second-largest U.S. mall owner is shopping its portfolio to potential joint-venture partners as it scrounges for capital to pay off $18.7 billion of debt coming due over the next four years

General Growth shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "GGP" were up $2.33, or 6.2 percent to $40.14 in late trading.

General Growth, which owns Ala Moana Center, Ward Centers and more than 200 other malls across the country, told the Wall Street Journal that the ventures would likely target some of the 165 malls the company owns outright, a category that includes such high-profile properties as Fashion Show Mall and the Grand Canal Shoppes in Las Vegas and Ala Moana Center. Malls that already are part of joint ventures, including Water Tower Place in Chicago, are unlikely to take on additional investors.

Bernie Freibaum, General Growth's chief financial officer, said in an interview that the company is approaching pension funds and life-insurance companies to first determine if they are interested in a deal before hashing out which properties would be involved. "It's not going to be that people can cherry-pick and just ask for the best assets," Freibaum said. "If it's multiple assets [in a deal], it will be a good cross-section of our portfolio."