Scentre Group

Scentre Group Limited is a shopping centre company with retail destinations operating under the Westfield brand in Australia and New Zealand. The corporation undertakes ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management, property management, leasing, and marketing activities for its centres. The group was created in June 2014 when the Westfield Group separated its American and European businesses from its operations in Australia and New Zealand.[3] The company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and had a shopping centre portfolio that includes investment interests in 41[4] shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand in 2019, encompassing around 12,544 retail outlets and total assets under management in excess of A$39.4 billion in 2015.[1]

This article is about the operations of Westfield shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand since 2014. For the operations of Westfield shopping malls in North America and Europe from 2014–2018, see Westfield Corporation. For the company that merged with Westfield Corporation in 2018, see Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. For the original company from which Scentre Group and Westfield Corporation were formed, see Westfield Group.

Scentre Group Limited
TypePublic
ASX: SCG
IndustryReal estate development
Shopping centre management
PredecessorWestfield Group
Founded2014 (2014)
(as a spin off from Westfield Development Corporation founded 1960), listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange)
Headquarters85 Castlereagh Street,
Sydney
,
Australia
Area served
Australia
New Zealand
Key people
Brian Schwartz (Chairman)
Peter Allen (CEO)
Total assetsA$40.9 billion (2015)[1]
Number of employees
2,586 (2014)[2]
Websitewww.scentregroup.com

History

Scentre Group has origins in the western suburbs of Sydney. The first development was named "Westfield Place", and opened in July 1959 in Blacktown.[5] The name Westfield is derived from "west" related to the West-Sydney location, and "field" due to having located on subdivided farmland. John Saunders and Frank Lowy opened the centre.[5]

The company was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1960 and built another five centres in New South Wales before expanding into Victoria and Queensland in 1966–67.[6]

The expansion into the United States began with the purchase of Trumbull Shopping Park in Connecticut in 1977, and was followed by three centres in California, Michigan, and Connecticut in 1980 and three centres in California, New Jersey and Long Island, New York in 1986.[6] In 1994, Westfield joined together with General Growth and Whitehall Real Estate to purchase 19 centres for US$1 billion. The company built considerable holdings on the east coast and in California before expanding in the Mid-West. By 2005, the company owned centres in 15 US states.[6]

In the 1990s, Westfield began a major expansion to New Zealand, where it mostly bought existing shopping centres of the Fletchers Company, and progressively rebranded them. Only in 2007, with Westfield Albany, did the company open a fully new centre in the country.[7]

On 9 May 2006, Westfield announced the sale of eight United States shopping centres which it deemed to fit outside its strategic plan, to Centro Properties Group.[8]

In April 2012, it was announced that Westfield Group would sell seven 'non-core' property assets to Starwood Capital Group for A$1 billion and one other property to an undisclosed buyer for A$147 million. The funds would be used to repay debt and invest in businesses offering higher return. The sales were expected completed by November 2013.[9]

In June 2014, Westfield Group, one of the world's largest shopping centre companies, restructured to create two, new independent companies: Scentre Group and Westfield Corporation. Scentre Group was created to own and manage the company's interests in Australia and New Zealand. Westfield Corporation owns and manages Westfield shopping centres in the United States and the United Kingdom. Although Westfield Group has evolved into two separate companies, the consumer branding will remain the same for Scentre Group's shopping centre portfolio.

In October 2015, Frank Lowy stepped down as the chairman of Scentre Group following 55 years in charge.[10]

Current operations
See also: List of Scentre Group properties

Scentre Group currently has interests in total assets worth A$38.6 billion, owning 41[4] shopping malls in Australia and New Zealand − with over 3.8 million square meters of retail space.

Australia

Having been established in Australia, with its original premises being at Blacktown, the Scentre Group continues to operate a large number of shopping centres in Australia under the Westfield brand.

New Zealand

Westfield entered the New Zealand market in 1997 and acquired an interest in the St. Lukes Group portfolio in 1998. Westfield malls are by far the most numerous chain in New Zealand, with most of its centres located in Auckland, including their largest development located in Albany.[11] As of February 2017, Westfield had NZ$2.5 billion in assets under management in New Zealand.[12]

In mid-2012 Westfield sold its 50% share of Westfield Shore City in Takapuna on Auckland's North Shore, now known as Shore City Shopping Centre. Later that same year the company sold Westfield Downtown[13] and Westfield Pakuranga, now known as Pakuranga Plaza.[14]

In 2014 Scentre sold 49% of five malls to the Singapore Government's GIC Private Limited. The malls are Albany, Manukau, Newmarket and St Lukes in Auckland, and Riccarton in Christchurch.[15]

In 2015 two more Westfield malls sold by Scentre Group were Chartwell Shopping Centre (formerly Westfield Chartwell) and Queensgate Shopping Centre (formerly Westfield Queensgate).[16]

In February 2017, it was announced that Scentre Group had sold the Westfield WestCity mall in Henderson, Auckland, to the family-owned Australian business Angaet Group for A$147 million.[17]

Westfield Labs

Based in San Francisco, California, Westfield Labs[18] is an entity of Westfield Corporation. Westfield Labs works closely with Scentre Group to provide it with digital shopping initiatives that can be deployed throughout the company's operations in Australia and New Zealand.

References
  1. "SCENTRE GROUP FORECASTS FFO GROWTH OF 3.5% TO 22.5 CENTS PER SECURITY FOR 2015" (PDF) (Press release). Scentre Group. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  2. "Scentre Group Careers". July 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  3. "SCENTRE GROUP (ASX: SCG) – IMPLEMENTATION OF WESTFIELD GROUP RESTRUCTURE" (PDF) (Press release). Scentre Group. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  4. "Shoppers met with buckets and rags at the new $790m Westfield Newmarket mall". Stuff.co.nz. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  5. "Westfield History: Westfield Stirs (1956–1960)" (PDF). About us. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
  6. Sammartino, André; Van Ruth, Frances (2007). "The Westfield Group". In Dick, H.; Merrett, D. (eds.). The Internationalisation Strategies of Small-Country Firms: The Australian Experience of Globalisation. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. pp. 308–318.
  7. Gibson, Anne (23 August 2007). "Countdown under way for Albany supermall rollout". New Zealand Herald.
  8. "Centro Watt Enters Mall Business; US Platform Well-Positioned to Continue Growth". www.businesswire.com. 11 May 2006. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  9. "Starwood Capital Group Completes $1.6B Acquisition of Seven Dominant Regional Malls from Westfield Group" (Press release). 22 November 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  10. "Frank Lowy steps down as Scentre Group chairman". AFR.com. 23 October 2015.
  11. Gibson, Anne (29 June 2012). "Westfield sells Auckland's Shore City mall". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  12. "Scentre Group Properties". 21 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  13. "Another Westfield mall sold". National Business Review - nbr.co.nz. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  14. Hutching, Chris (11 December 2013). "Another Westfield Mall Sold". New Zealand Herald.
  15. Kloten, Niko; Harris, Catherine (7 November 2014). "Singapore fund buys into NZ Westfield shopping centres". Stuff. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  16. Hamish Rutherford (27 November 2015). "Westfield malls in Lower Hutt and Hamilton to be rebranded after sale". Stuff.co.nz.
  17. "Auckland mall WestCity sold for A$147m". NZ Herald. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  18. "Westfield Labs". July 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
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