If the company, which owns 42 properties across the country and abroad, is truly up for grabs, any number of entities could be potential buyers, from institutional investors and private-equity firms to traditional mall owners, Ostrower says. "This is a market where there are enormous amounts of capital floating around," he states. "Anyone is desperate to put capital out."

And pressure from well-publicized rumors won't necessarily spur Mills officials to comment publicly on any potential deal. "So far this company has been quiet until they want to say something," Ostrower says. "It doesn't mean anything necessarily."

News of Mills looking at strategic alternatives follows a January announcement by its Germany-based investment partners KanAm that it is freezing its $580-million KanAm US Grundinvestment fund that has ownership in two Mills centers, Opry Mills in Nashville, TN and Great Mall in San Jose, CA among other non-Mills holdings. Analysts say that KanAm could look to sell its stakes in those assets and an additional nine Mills centers in which it has invested.