Westfield’s shareholders have given the green light for the £18.5 billion takeover by Unibail-Rodamco, as its chairman of 58 years departs.

The deal was “supported by the vast majority of shareholders”, according to chairman Frank Lowy who has subsequently announced his departure from the group amid an emotional address last night.

Europe’s largest property company Unibail-Rodamco saw its shareholder approve the deal last week, following its initial announcement in December last year.

Now the newly-formed company will include 104 shopping centres across 13 different countries, worth an estimated £53 billion, all of which will carry the Westfield brand.

Westfield’s separate Australian and New Zealand arm will not be part of the deal and will remain under the control of Scentre which purchased it in 2014.

Westfield will also be delisted from the Australian stock exchange.

Shares jumped around 13 per cent upon the announcement of the deal last year, but has dropped by 8.38 per cent since then, including a 0.4 per cent drop on news of the deals completion.

“All shareholders in the new group will benefit from economic exposure to a much larger and geographically diverse portfolio than they have today,” Lowy said.

“I believe that the strategic positioning of the new group is unique and that it will play a major role in the ongoing evolution of the retail industry.”

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