Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has acquired a 38.9% stake in its German joint venture retail property platform with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, taking its stake in the business to nearly 90%.
The acquisition is an off-market transaction, in the context of an existing shareholders’ agreement.
Both partners in the JV, called URW Germany GmbH (URWG), retain the option to transfer the remaining 10.1% of CPP Investments’ interest to URW in 2025 for a cash consideration of up to €65 mln.
The acquisition is being financed through the issuance of 3.254 million new URW stapled shares, representing 2.2% of URW’s post-execution fully diluted share capital. These shares will be provided to CPP Investments as consideration for their contribution in kind of the 38.9% stake in URWG.
URWG owns five shopping centres in Germany: Minto (Mönchengladbach), Höfe am Brühl (Leipzig), Palais Vest (Recklinghausen), a 50% share in Paunsdorf Center (Leipzig), and a 20% share in Gropius Passagen (Berlin).
URWG also holds €416 mln in cash, including the €238 mln net cash proceeds from the recent sale of Pasing Arcaden (Munich), as well as the fee business activity for third-party assets in Germany.
