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- Shopping centre operator Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has sold off some major French assets today for over $325 million
- The company sold the office buildings, which are in the Paris La Défense business district, to French fund managers for €213 million (around A$326 million)
- When combined with URW’s $950 million SHiFT building sale in January, the company has sold off roughly €800 million (around A$1.2 billion) of assets in 2021
- This is all part of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s €4 billion (around A$6.12 billion) European asset disposal program
- The company is selling some assets to deleverage as COVID-19 continues to spread across Europe and impact URW’s bottom line
- Shares in URW closed 2.83 per cent lower on the ASX this afternoon at $5.50 per share
Shopping centre operator Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has sold off some major French assets today for over $325 million.
The ASX-200-lister has sold its Village 3, 4, and 6 office building in Paris’ La Défense business district — the largest purpose-built business district in Europe.
French institutional fund managers snapped up the URW assets, with La Française Real Estate Managers buying the Village 3 building on March 4 and Perial AM taking control of Village 4 and 6 on March 17.
All up, the fund managers paid €213 million (around A$326 million) for both transactions.
Today’s news comes roughly two months after URW divested its SHiFT office building in Paris’ Issy-les-Moulineaux region for a neat €620 million (around A$950 million).
The company announced the sale of the SHiFT building back in October 2020.
With the Village office buildings now divested, too, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has sold off roughly €800 million (around A$1.2 billion) worth of assets in 2021.
This is all part of URW’s major €4 billion (around A$6.12 billion) European asset disposal program, which the shopping centre giant took on to deleverage in light of heavy blows to earnings across its global business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stay-at-home orders and business closures across the globe have impacted URW’s retail portfolio over the past year, with the company first flagging the tough economic conditions almost exactly a year ago today.
While Australia has largely reined the coronavirus under control, COVID-19 has continued to break out across Europe over the past year, causing ongoing impacts to URW’s bottom line.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield highlighted a €7.21 billion (around A$11 billion) loss over the 2020 calendar year in its latest annual report. For reference, the company’s net result over 2019 was a €1.1 billion (around A$1.7 billion) profit.
Shares in URW closed 2.83 per cent lower on the ASX this afternoon at $5.50 per share. The company has a $16.92 billion market cap.
