WESTFIELD has fulfilled its $2 billion capital raising target by selling a 50% stake in Westfield Parramatta to the Singapore Government's real estate investment arm, GIC Real Estate for $717.5 million.
The sale to GIC RE will complete
In November last year, Westfield pulled the plug on its much anticipated $2 billion Australian wholesale shopping centre fund citing a number of conditions set out by investors which Westfield would not agree on.
Later in December, Westfield sold a 50% interest in the Merry Hill shopping centre in Birmingham, United Kingdom and surrounding development land to the Queensland Investment Corporation for £524 million ($A1.3 billion).
“We are very pleased to have formed our first joint venture with GIC RE on one of the prime assets in the group’s Australian portfolio and we look forward to the future expansion of this relationship.” he added.
Westfield Parramatta is a $1.4 billion, five-level super regional shopping centre in western
The centre is one of the largest in
The centre is anchored by major retailers such as David Jones, Myer, Kmart, Target, Woolworths, Coles, Greater Union Cinemas and approximately 500 specialty stores.
As part of the joint venture,
“With the consistent strong showing by Australia’s retail property sector, we are confident that our investment in Westfield Parramatta will enhance the performance of our global portfolio of retail properties such as our interests in Queen Victoria Building in Australia, Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent, UK, Roma Est in Rome, Italy, and Sunway Pyramid Mall in Malaysia,” GIC RE’s president Dr Seek Ngee Huat said.
This transaction is GIC RE’s second major acquisition in a month across
GIC RE manages a multi-billion dollar portfolio of direct and indirect property investments with over 150 investments in more than 30 countries.
Australian Property Journal
