SYDNEY-Locally based Westfield Group has signed on the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, based in Toronto, as a 45% joint venture partner in a portfolio of 12 US assets, with a value of about $4.8 billion. Westfield has also sold its 50% interest in three malls in the United Kingdom, with these centers valued at about $632 million.
The 12 US sites include nine centers in California, one in Annapolis, MD and one in Tukwila, WA, all named Westfield. The additional property is the proposed Village at Westfield Topanga, slated to be built on 30 acres between Westfield Promenade in Woodland Hills and the existing Westfield Topanga center in Conoga Park, CA. The portfolio totals about 13.5 million square feet, and is 93% leased.
The venture is expected to be complete this quarter, and Westfield will be the managing partner. The transaction will generate about $1.8 billion of net cash to Westfield after the assumption of the pension board of property-related debt.
Company officials said in a statement that joint ventures will continue to be a strategy to help expand its operating platform. “We also continue our strategy of divesting non-core assets, and we expect to make further announcements on this during the course of 2012,” said co-CEO Peter Lowy in the statement.
The first announcement is that the firm has sold its interests in three UK malls to London-based Hermes Real Estate Investment Management for $251 million. The properties include Royal Victoria Place in Tunbridge Wells (33% interest), the Friary Centre in Guildford (50%) and CastleCourt in Belfast (33%).
A Hermes spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that the properties are valued at about $632 million. Hermes now completely owns the three centers, which have tenants such as Urban Outfitters and Hollister. Chris Taylor, CEO, said in a statement that the centers have good long-term value. “This transaction fits our UK transaction strategy, which seeks to focus upon direct ownership of properties which we asset manage and acquired through bottom-up stock selection,” he said.
Steven Lowy, the other co-CEO at Westfield, said in the firm’s statement that he sees these sites, purchased in 2000 when the firm entered the United Kingdom, as non-core to his current portfolio. “Since that time we have refocused our business into iconic assets such as Westfield London and Stratford City, and we continue to examine new growth opportunities in the UK,” he said.
Westfield has about $61.7 billion in current assets under management, including 118 centers. The firm just reported Wednesday a 37% jump in net profit from fourth quarter 2010 to fourth quarter 2011, to $1.5 billion.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
