Centro Properties has secured a short-term extension from its bankers as part of a radical restructuring plan to recapitalise the debt-laden owner of shopping malls in Australia and the US.

The one-month reprieve will allow the Australian-listed group – described by one local commentator as the “mother of all bank debt traps” – to prepare documentation that will recast the group’s debts of close to A$6bn (US$4.03bn) on a longer-term basis.