Westfield Corporation is planning to move its Sydney head office overseas once an offshore stock market listing is finalised. A decision on the new location is expected be made in the next 12 months.
The news follows the restructure of the company in June 2014 which resulted in the creation of two new listed property groups, Scentre Group (with 47 properties in Australian and New Zealand valued at $39.4 billion) and Westfield Corporation (which owns and manages $27.7 billion of malls mostly in the US and Britain).
The company focus is now on shopping developments in the United States, Britain and Europe. This year Westfield developments in California and London are estimated to commence, with four more international projects slated to begin in 2016.
“We have made it clear at the time of the restructure that … we are intending to get listing elsewhere and the details have not been fully worked out, it’s a very complex issue,” Mr Lowy told the company’s annual general meeting, as reported by AAP.
“There will be no solution, until there is listing, as to where head office and administration will be.”
Westfield Corp also announced a 5.7 per cent lift in first quarter specialty retail sales driven by a 6.3 per cent increase in sales at the group’s flagship centres.