European retail giant to take over Westfield for $15.7B

European retail giant to take over Westfield for $15.7B. Westfield Corp., the operator of the World Trade Center mall in Lower Manhattan, Garden State Plaza in Northern New Jersey and several upscale shopping centers in London, has agreed to a $15.7 billion takeover by another giant in the shopping center industry: Unibail-Rodamco.
The deal combines two of the biggest mall operators in the world at a time when malls are going through many well-publicized struggles, according to the Wall Street Journal. Westfield shares had been down 9 percent this year prior to the deal being made public, and the company has spent years lowering its retail exposure.
Frank Lowy, the chairman of Westfield, will retire as part of the deal, while his sons Peter and Steven will resign as the company’s co-chief executives. Unibail Chief Executive Christophe Cuviller will head up the new company. Unibail, based in Paris, operates malls in Western and Central Europe. Some of its holdings include the Forum des Halles and the Les 4 Temps malls in Paris as well as the Gropius in Berlin. The move for Westfield gives Unibail access to the London market.

Credit: The real deal