Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has sold the Westfield Santa Anita mall in California for $537.5m (€521m), as part of the retail-focused real estate investment trust’s ongoing plan to reduce its financial exposure to US assets.
URW said the 1.48m sqft mall in Arcadia, which is 96% leased, was acquired by an “established commercial real estate investor” that owns other retail assets in Southern California. The unnamed investor is funding the deal through a combination of equity and new debt.
URW said the $537.5m sale price reflects a sub -6% net initial yield and a 10.7% discount to the asset’s December 2021 appraisal. URW’s share in the sale proceeds is 49%.
The deal is the largest for a mall in the US since 2018, according to Eastdil Secured, who advised URW.
URW said the sale of Santa Anita marks ”ongoing progress in the streamlining of its regional asset portfolio, part of the group’s comprehensive deleveraging programme that includes the radical reduction of its financial exposure to the US”.
In total, URW has made $0.9bn (URW share) of disposals in the US since 2021, including Westfield Santa Anita, the site of the former Promenade Mall in San Fernando Valley, the Palisade residential building in San Diego, and the ownership transfer of five other regional properties.
In Europe, URW has already made €3.2bn (URW share) of its €4bn target of disposals, the company said.
The group owns and operates 82 shopping centres in Europe and the US.
URW currently has a €55bn property portfolio comprising 87% retail assets, 6% offices, 5% convention and exhibition venues and 2% services assets.
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