The Chicago Tribune reported today that General Growth Properties Inc. could sell some or all of its properties as it emerges from bankruptcy. General Growth, the owners of Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines and 200 other shopping centers in 44 other states, is exploring its options with “multiple parties,” CEO Adam Metz told the Tribune. At least one rival — Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc. — already has gained a sizable interest through debt acquisition. General Growth was founded in Iowa more than 50 years ago. It is now based in Chicago.

Iowa State University football coach Paul Rhoads and Athletic Director Jamie Pollard participated in today’s opening-bell ceremony of the Nasdaq Stock Market. Rhoads and Pollard joined University of Minnesota head football coach Tim Brewster as part of events leading up to the Insight Bowl between the two schools Dec. 31 in Tempe, Ariz.

Citigroup Inc. said today that it had reached an agreement to wean itself from the government bailout by the end of 2010, beginning with the repayment of $20 billion in federal aid, The Washington Post reported. The deal would leave Wells Fargo & Co. as the only major bank that still holds federal aid. Citigroup’s departure will come in two phases. First, the company will raise money from investors to repay $20 billion in federal aid as soon as possible. Then the government will sell the shares it holds in Citigroup, which it bought for $25 billion, in chunks over the next year.

The largest U.S oil company is buying the country’s largest producer of natural gas. Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to buy XTO Energy Inc. for $31 billion in a bet that U.S. emissions restrictions will spur increased demand for natural gas, Bloomberg reported. “This says that corporate M&A is alive and well in the exploration and production sector,” said Curtis Trimble, an analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder Inc. in Houston. Demand for the fuel will grow as U.S. carbon legislation prompts power producers to switch from coal, Kenneth Cohen, Exxon’s vice president for government affairs, told Bloomberg.