Centro Properties is understood to be in advanced talks with banks to secure a rescue package ahead of a Friday deadline to repay A$3.9bn ($3.5bn) of short-term debt.

The second largest shopping mall owner in Australia and the fifth-biggest in the US became Australia’s worst casualty of the global credit crisis in December when it defaulted on A$1.3bn of loans and was forced into a “work-out” by creditors.