Shares of General Growth Properties Inc., the owner of Ala Moana Center and Ward Centers, fell 48 percent after proxy adviser Glass, Lewis & Co. said the mall owner should have a ban on short selling of its stock removed, Bloomberg News reported.

The decline was the biggest drop in more than 15 years for the Chicago-based company and came after a series of events that led to it being criticized by Glass Lewis. Bloomberg reported General Growth Properties requested that its stock be included on a list of firms whose stock is banned from short selling.

After it was added to the list, executives sold 2.44 million shares of the stock, Bloomberg said. Glass Lewis, a firm that advises large institutional shareholders on investment issues, yesterday criticized General Growth and said the company should be removed from the short-sale list.

Short selling is an investment strategy where someone borrows shares of a company and sells them. The investor is betting the shares can be repurchased at a lower price later and returned to their original owner.