Westfield merger creates the world´s largest retail real estate company (AU)

Westfield Holdings, Westfield Trust and Westfield America Trust recently completed their three-way merger to create Westfield Group, the world´s largest retail real estate company.

The merger received virtually unanimous support from securityholders (Westfield Holdings 99.7%, Westfield Trust 98.9% and Westfield America Trust 95.5%). Deutsche Bank acted as a Joint Lead Financial Advisor to Westfield. The transaction was named Australian Merger/Acquisition of the Year by CFO Magazine.

Westfield Group has now become the world´s largest listed retail property group with A$36.5 billion (€21 billion) of assets and interests in 124 shopping centers with over 20,000 retailers and approximately 10 million sqm of retail space in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom.

This transformational deal has made Westfield Group the 8th largest entity on the Australian Stock Exchange with a current market capitalisation of A$26 billion (€15 billion). The strategic rationale for the merger is to create the scale, financial strength and capabilities necessary to pursue global growth opportunities.

This transaction is indicative of a worldwide trend in which publicly-traded real estate companies become focused operators with sufficient size and share liquidity.

Source: Deutsche Bank

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