Westfield Group’s plan to split its Australasian and international operations faces an increasingly uphill battle, as major investors in the domestically focused Australian real estate investment trust voice their unhappiness, according to The Australian.
UniSuper, which holds a 7.27 per cent stake in Westfield Retail Trust, has expressed concerns around the pricing and governance parts of the deal, and is one of a number of fund managers seeking to have the plans reworked or dropped altogether.
Under the plan, the Australia-focused REIT, Westfield Retail Trust, would be renamed Scentre Group and would buy Westfield Group's Australia and New Zealand management and development business on a price-to-earnings multiple some fund managers have estimated at around 20 times.
UniSuper's head of property and private markets, Kent Robbins, told the newspaper: “The strategy is good in terms of unifying the ownership of the domestic operating and management platform.” But that the cost of the plan for WRT shareholders and corporate governance concerns meant the deal “simply is just a bridge too far”.