Westfield Group is looking to shake up its British portfolio, selling about £600 million ($A1.128 billion) of assets there ahead of a planned split of its Australasian and international shopping centre holdings into two trusts.
The shopping centre giant is in talks to sell two key assets - the Derby shopping centre and a stake in Merry Hill near Birmingham, along with the management of that centre - to British-listed group Intu Properties.
While the deals are yet to be completed, the funds could be poured into the Australian group's development pipeline or used to sweetened the pot for Westfield Retail Trust shareholders who are unhappy about the terms of the proposed split.
The Derby centre was put up for sale last November with an asking price of about £400 million.
Westfield, which has a two-thirds stake in the centre, and co-owner Westfield UK Shopping Centre Fund appointed Savills to sell the retail complex. In a twist, Intu also revealed its interest in the £1 billion Westfield Merry Hill centre, which Westfield co-owns with investors, including Queensland Investment Corporation.
Westfield has a one-third stake after selling a 50 per cent interest in the Merry Hill and surrounding development land to QIC for £524 million in 2006 and a further interest into the British shopping centre fund in 2007. Intu, which also owns the Victoria and Broadmarsh centres in Nottingham, flagged a potential equity raising if the deals went ahead.
In response to British reports, the company said that "although discussions are ongoing, there can be no certainty that any transaction will be undertaken".