Westfield Corporation
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Westfield Corporation was an Australian
commercial real estate Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office bu ...
company and operator of
shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...
s. It was founded with the spin-off of the
Westfield Group Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio; ...
in 2014, where assets in Australia and New Zealand formed the
Scentre Group Scentre Group Limited is a shopping centre company with retail destinations operating under the Westfield brand in Australia and New Zealand. The corporation undertakes ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management, proper ...
and assets in the United Kingdom and United States formed the Westfield Corporation. It was listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, ...
with the
ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. In short, ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters ...
"WFD". Westfield accepted a $32.8 billion
takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...
offer from
Unibail-Rodamco Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE (previously Unibail-Rodamco SE) is a French commercial real estate company headquartered in Paris, France. Its history originates with the formation of two separate shopping centre operators, Unibail (founded in Fran ...
, excluding Westfield Labs, on 12 December 2017. The takeover was completed, and parent company was renamed
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE (previously Unibail-Rodamco SE) is a French commercial real estate company headquartered in Paris, France. Its history originates with the formation of two separate shopping centre operators, Unibail (founded in Fran ...
, in June 2018. Westfield undertook ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management,
property management Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...
, leasing, and marketing activities for its centres. Its portfolio included investment interests in 40 shopping centres across the United States and Europe, encompassing around 7,500 retail outlets and total assets under management in excess of $28.5 billion. It also operated Westfield Labs, a technology and design arm based inside the
Westfield San Francisco Centre The Westfield San Francisco Centre is an upscale shopping mall located in San Francisco, California, managed by the Westfield Group and co-owned by Westfield and Brookfield Asset Management. It is anchored by Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's, and inc ...
.


History

The first development of the Westfield Corporation was named "Westfield Place", and opened in July 1959 in
Blacktown Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Grea ...
. The name Westfield is derived from "west" related to the West-Sydney location, and "field" due to having been located on subdivided farmland. The centre was opened by John Saunders and Frank Lowy. The company was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1960 and built another five centres in New South Wales before expanding into Victoria and Queensland in 1966–67. The expansion into the United States began with the purchase of the Trumbull Shopping Park in Connecticut in 1977, and was followed by three centres in California, Michigan, and Connecticut in 1980 and three centres in California, New Jersey, and Long Island, New York in 1986. In 1994, Westfield collaborated with General Growth and Whitehall Real Estate to purchase 19 centres for US$1 billion. By 2005, the company owned centres in 15 US states. In the 1990s, Westfield began a major expansion to
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, where they mostly bought existing shopping centres of the Fletchers company, and progressively rebranded them. In 2007, with
Westfield Albany Westfield Albany is a shopping centre in the Auckland suburb of Albany, New Zealand, opposite the Albany Lakes Civic Park. It is majority owned (51%) by Scentre Group with the remainder owned by the Singapore Government's GIC. Until 2014 it w ...
, the company opened a new centre in the country. On 9 May 2006, Westfield announced the sale of eight United States shopping centres which it deemed to fit outside its strategic plan, to Centro Properties Group. In 2010, the Westfield Group split 50% of its Australian and New Zealand assets into the Westfield Retail Trust, trading on the Australian Stock Exchange as WRT. This trust was folded into the
Scentre Group Scentre Group Limited is a shopping centre company with retail destinations operating under the Westfield brand in Australia and New Zealand. The corporation undertakes ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management, proper ...
during the 2014 split. In December 2017 the Westfield Board announced that it was recommending a takeover of the company by
Unibail-Rodamco Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE (previously Unibail-Rodamco SE) is a French commercial real estate company headquartered in Paris, France. Its history originates with the formation of two separate shopping centre operators, Unibail (founded in Fran ...
, one of the largest real estate companies in Europe, for a reported $24.8bn USD. The takeover was completed, and parent company was renamed
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE (previously Unibail-Rodamco SE) is a French commercial real estate company headquartered in Paris, France. Its history originates with the formation of two separate shopping centre operators, Unibail (founded in Fran ...
, in June 2018.


Properties

Westfield had interests in over 100
shopping malls A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
worldwide, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Sweden, The Netherlands and Italy.


See also

*
Lend Lease Corporation Lendlease is a globally integrated real estate company that creates and invests in communities, workplaces, retail, and infrastructure projects, headquartered in Barangaroo, New South Wales, Australia. History Founding The company was estab ...
* Shopping property management firms


References


External links

* {{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Shopping center management firms Shopping centres in the United Kingdom Defunct companies of Australia Real estate companies established in 2014 Real estate companies disestablished in 2018 2018 mergers and acquisitions Corporate spin-offs Australian companies established in 2014 Australian companies disestablished in 2018