Shopping centre giant Westfield Corporation has added France to its list of shopping centre plays after talks with multiple parties to get into the French market, including commercial property developer Immochan.
Westfield, which this year underwent a controversial restructure of its $70 billion empire, has made no secret of plans to expand its mall empire into Europe.
Westfield Corporation, born out of the restructure that saw the group spin off its Australian and New Zealand malls into a new entity Scentre Group, currently owns malls in the US and Britain and plans to build a hulking shopping centre in Milan.
Westfield, which declined to comment on its aspirations to enter France, had looked at entry into a number of European markets and in 2011 was linked to the massive Uplace Machelen project in Brussels.
In France, the Australian-founded shopping centre group held talks with Immochan, a subsidiary of supermarket chain Auchan, to develop a mall in the Plaine du Var near Nice.
The mall development is subject to a local government tender that will be completed in 2015.
The mall will require an investment of between €350m and €400m ($501m to $570m) and is expected to have an end value in excess of €1bn.
French mall owner Klépierre, in which Simon Property Group owns a major stake, has also been named as competing for the contract. Klépierre recently announced a merger with The Netherlands mall operator Corio to form the biggest mall owner in Europe.
It is understood Westfield has tried to enter the French market before. Last year, it put its hat in the ring to partner with shopping centre owner Socri to develop a high-end mall in Cagnes-sur-Mer, which, like Nice, is on the French Riviera.
However, rival mall developer Unibail-Rodamco pipped Westfield to the deal with the two French companies setting up a joint venture to develop the 500-store centre.
Westfield has tried to partner with Immochan in the past, offering to jointly develop the company’s massive €2bn Europe City entertainment precinct — which includes a snow park and man-made ski slope — on the outskirts of Paris. If Westfield picks up the Nice contract it will mark the second major project for the company in continental Europe.
Westfield is already planning a massive shopping centre in Milan that will rival Europe City and is estimated to have an end value of $2bn.
Westfield recently increased its stake in its Milan development joint venture with Italian soccer great-turned property developer Antonio Percassi, through Stilo Immobiliare Finanziaria, to 75 per cent, as its partner faced funding issues that were first flagged in The Australian earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Westfield is pushing ahead with a major London residential project, potentially with a partner, after receiving final approvals last week.
Investors are already banking on big gains from Westfield’s top international projects, with JPMorgan analysts this month estimating the group’s iconic projects could provide about $US800m in realised development profits.
Europe appears to be emerging as a focus for the group and in regards to its London residential project, a spokeswoman for Westfield said its process to find a partner through Knight Frank is ongoing.