Westfield Group and Westfield Retail Trust have sold their stakes in the $740 million Karrinyup Shopping Centre in Perth to the owner of the remaining two-thirds of the property, superannuation fund UniSuper, according to The Australian.
In what amounts to one of the largest shopping centre transactions of the year, Westfield has exited the property within days of having been cleared by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to take full control of the asset.
UniSuper paid about $246.6 million in the deal, The Australian reported.
The two Westfield funds each held 16.7 per cent stakes and the deal represents a premium of about 19 per cent to Westfield's book value for its non-managed interest in the centre, the newspaper added.
Besides being a leading shopping centre transaction, the deal is also expected to establish a new benchmark for shopping centre values.
In a deal with the ACCC, Westfield had said it would have sold its stake in another Perth centre, Innaloo, if it had taken full control of Karrinyup, to resolve any competition concerns.
The Innaloo stake sale would have been worth about $268 million and was to be sold to Charter Hall, though the transaction's status remains unclear.