Hermes buys Westfield share in EUR 477m mall portfolio

UK investment manager Hermes Real Estate has acquired full control of three shopping centres valued at a total of £400 mln (EUR 477 mln) from Sydney-listed international mall owner-developer Westfield Group.

Hermes agreed to pay £159 mln to buy Westfield out of their joint venture that owned the two shopping centres in southern England and one in Belfast.

Westfield announced the sale of its interests in Belfast (33%), Guildford (50%) and Tunbridge Wells (33%) as it released its financial figures for 2011.

'These assets were originally purchased in 2000, at the time of our initial entry into the UK. Since that time we have refocused our business into iconic assets such as Westfield London and Stratford City and we continue to examine new growth opportunities in the UK. Along with the recent sale of Nottingham, these assets divested today became non-core to our UK portfolio', Westfield Co-CEO Steven Lowy said.

Westfield said it expected to announced further divestments of non-core assets during 2012.

The company announced a net profit of AUD$1.5 bn for 2011, up 37.6% on the previous year.