Westfield this week completed two major international disposals that strengthen the Australian giant’s focus on large shopping centres.
In the UK, Westfield completed its sale of three non-core shopping centres with a combined value of £400m to Hermes Real Estate Investment Management, first revealed by Estates Gazette last year (17 December, p23).
The deal involved Westfield offloading its 44% interests in Castlecourt shopping centre in Belfast and Royal Victoria shopping centre in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and its 50% stake in the Friary Mall in Guildford, Surrey.
These assets were originally purchased in 2000, at the time of Westfield’s initial entry into the UK.
Steven Lowy, Westfield’s co-chief executive, said that since then Westfield has “refocused into iconic assets such as Westfield London and Stratford City” and that it “continues to examine new growth opportunities in the UK”, where it has recently made a play for the Whitgift Centre in Croydon.
Confirmation of the disposals came as the group unveiled its full-year results, in which it said it was to buy back up to 10% of its shares after selling a stake in a portfolio of US malls to a Canadian pension fund for $1.9bn (£1.2bn).
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is paying Westfield $1.8bn in cash for a 45% stake in a portfolio of 12 US shopping centres, valued at $4.8bn, which Westfield will continue to manage.
The deal represents a 3% premium to prior book value and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2012.
The sales are part of Westfield’s strategy to free up capital to focus on large centres.
Peter Lowy, joint chief executive, said that recent initiatives had freed up A$9bn (£6.1bn) of capital to redeploy on “higher return opportunities” and to fund a buy-back of up to 10% of its stock.
Overall, Westfield, which has an A$11bn development pipeline, reported a 37% rise in annual net profit to A$1.53bn in 2011. Funds from operations, a measure of cashflow, were A$1.49bn.
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
