Fairholme Capital Management and Pershing Square, two key investors in General Growth Properties, have offered to invest another $3.93 billion in the mall operator to help it emerge from bankruptcy. Shareholders, who only had access to the stock again on the NYSE as of last Friday, bid the stock more than 4 percent higher in early Tuesday trade.

While the new offer does not knock out the one from GGP rival Simon Property Group, it could get more support among unsecured creditors who would have had to settle for cash and stock under GGP’s original proposal.

The latest deal builds on one from Brookfield Asset Management but now allows General Growth to remain an independent company instead of selling itself to Simon, its largest competitor.

Simon’s bid is still out there, so while General Growth’s managers might get excited by attracting more interest, the race to win control of the country’s number two mall operator may still have more than a few twists and turns.

State-owned Dubai World rocked markets in November when it announced a 6-month standstill on debt payments, and the company is back in the news  as investors await a $20 billion-plus debt restructuring deal, which bankers say may happen as early as this week.

Among the debts that need to be paid, two Dubai World subsdiaries — Limitless and Nakheel — have Islamic loan or bond deals maturing in the next two months, and a dollar-denominated Islamic bond for Nakheel matures in January.

Investors wonder if  United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi will once more come to Dubai’s rescue, after it helped out with a $10 billion lifeline in December. The UAE today pledged its support for Dubai but said the emirate had yet to ask for federal help.

Failing that, investors may have to roll over their debt, and so wait longer for payment, or get paid now but with a “haircut” of up to 40 percent, according to some media reports.

A creditor committee made up of  UK, UAE and Japanese banks may be meeting Dubai World in London this week. But analysts say much of the debt — whether bonds, syndicated loans, or bilateral loans — has been sold back into local markets, or at least sold on by the original owner, and this may diffuse the impact on international investors of any large haircuts.

According to Mats Olausson, emerging markets strategist at SEB in Stockholm:

“For Dubai, most of the dynamite was probably used last year but there could be some fireworks and explosions.”

Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, is lining up a bid for the 21 percent stake in Turkey’s Garanti Bank that is being sold by General Electric, a source close to the deal tells Reuters. The stake in the most actively traded stock on the Istanbul bourse is worth $3.7 billion at current market prices. Read the story here.

And in news from other media on Tuesday:

Marsh & McLennan, the number two global insurance broker, has put its security consulting business Kroll up for sale for $1.3 billion, the Financial Times said.  Carlyle, Apax, BC Partners, General Electric and two trade bidders made first expressions of interest in late February, the report says.

Prudential shareholders have been given assurances they will share in the lucrative underwriting of the insurer’s record $21 billion rights issue to head of a brewing row between investors and the company, the Telegraph said, citing sources close to the company.

It was a two-year quest to seal the MetLife deal for Alico.  Beyond the $15.5 billion purchase price, what does it mean for the companies and the life insurance sector?

*  MetLife seals Alico deal after two-year quest
*  Factbox: AIG’s progress on asset sales

From the Web:

A.I.G. Sells Unit to MetLife (NYT)
“Now comes the hard part.” – NYT

At AIG, What Is Left to Sell? (WSJ)
“One might suggest selling the furniture, but AIG already sort of did that, unloading its downtown New York headquarters to a condo developer.” – WSJ

Alico Deal Will Transform MetLife (WSJ)
“The bold and potentially risky deal would boost the portion of MetLife’s overall operating income that comes from overseas to 40% from 15% currently, estimates Andrew Kligerman, a UBS Securities analyst.” – WSJ

AIG Giveth Back, and Taketh Away, from U.S. Taxpayers (BNET)
“An old adage says that if you owe the bank a million dollars, the bank owns you. And when you are bailed out to the tune of tens of billions, well, then you have a piece of the U.S. Treasury.” (BNET)

Timeline: AIG ‘Jewel’ Took 91 Years to Build, Week to Dismantle (Bloomberg)

MetLife CEO Hails Alico Deal (WSJ)
“Mr. Henrikson said MetLife doesn’t intend to be “what the analysts call, ’serial acquirers.’ Our focus is primarily organic growth.” But he added that analysts and investors shouldn’t “be shocked” if MetLife were to buy a property or block of business from another carrier that would enhance, say, its group-life or group-dental insurance platform in the small-business arena.” – WSJ