Australia’s Westfield Group to sell seven US malls to Starwood Capital for $1.6 bn
16 Sep 2013
Australian shopping centre company Westfield Group today agreed to sell seven malls in the US to an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, for $1.6 billion.
Sydney-based Westfield, the world's biggest shopping-centre operator by assets, will sell Belden Village mall in Canton, Ohio, Capital mall in Olympia, Washington, Franklin Park in Toledo, Ohio, Great Northern mall in North Olmsted, Ohio, Parkway in El Cajon, California, Southlake in Merrillville, Indiana and West Covina in California.
Connecticut-based Starwood will own and manage the majority interest in the centres, while Westfield will retain a 10 per cent equity interest.
The transactions' value of $1.64 billion is $120 million below the book value of the assets at 31 December 2012 and in line with the book values at 30 June 2013, said Westfield in a statement.
Post sale, Westfield will own and operate a portfolio of 40 centers in the US with average annual sales of $513 per square foot.
The sale comes a year after Westfield, founded by billionaire Frank Lowy, sold seven US malls to Starwood for $1 billion and sold 49.9-per cent stake in six Florida malls to O'Connor Capital Partners for about $700 million. (See: Australian property group Westfield in $1.3-bn US JV deal)
Westfield is a vertically integrated shopping centre group undertaking ownership, design, construction, asset management, leasing and marketing and employing around 3,800 people worldwide.
The Group operates one of the world's largest shopping centre portfolios with investments in 105 shopping centres across Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Brazil with total assets under management of $67 billion.
During the past one and a half years, Westfield has offloaded major stakes in its US, UK and Australian shopping malls to a range of private investors including London's Hammerson, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Starwood Capital Group and the Group's own satellite Westfield Retail Trust.
