Shopping centre group Westfield is to sell three of its UK shopping centres for £597m.
Merry Hill, Derby and Sprucefield will be sold to property company Intu which releases funds for its upcoming Croydon and Milan developments.
The news comes as Westfield chiefs plan to split the business into two with Scentre Group being formed to run its Australian and New Zealand centres.
“Today‘s announcement continues the strategic repositioning of the international portfolio in line with our focus on investing and operating iconic retail destinations in major world cities,” commented Westfield‘s co-chief executive Steven Lowy. “Post completion of these divestments, the UK/European portfolio will comprise our two major London assets – Westfield London and Stratford.”
The divestments are expected to have a similar financial impact on the proposed Westfield Corporation. The transaction will not impact the proposed Scentre Group.
Intu, which owns 16 centres in the UK, is expected to complete the deal in mid 2014.
