The controversial demerger of Westfield Corp has received a resounding tick of approval from European investors overnight, with new entity Scentre Group raising over $3 billion in European bonds.
The group raised the equivalent of $A3.045bn in senior guaranteed notes under its Euro medium term note program, meeting strong demand in one of the largest euro denominated debt raisings by an Australian firm.
The proceeds will be used to partially refinance Scentre Group’s $50bn bridge facility.
DataRoom first reported Scentre was looking to tap the European debt market yesterday, with the newly formed shopping mall supported by favourable investment interest following a roadshow finished last week.
Scentre was created through the merger of Westfield Group’s Australian and New Zealand assets and operating platform with Westfield Retail Trust.
It is understood that Scentre received positive feedback on the roadshow last week, as both Westfield and WRT are well-known to European investors.
Investment banks BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank arranged the roadshow, and also acted as active lead managers with HSBC and Barclays.