By Ross Kelly
SYDNEY--Australia's Westfield Corp. could grow its property
portfolio by 50% in as little as five years, as it continues to
build out flashy new malls in places like New York and Milan and
considers investing in other assets such as London apartment
blocks.
In an interview Wednesday, Joint Chief Executive Peter Lowy said
the Sydney-listed company--with assets under management worth
US$27.8 billion--has laid out a pipeline of projects that will
boost the value of its portfolio by US$11.4 billion. He said the
figure excludes potential investments in residential property in
London and possible expansions of some of its existing malls.
Westfield, which has a market value of 21 billion Australian
dollars (US$17 billion), last year spun off its stable of older
malls in Australia and New Zealand to focus on riskier, but
potentially more lucrative, opportunities in the U.S. and Europe.
It is considering a share-market listing in London or New York.
"If they can repeat what they're doing in places like Milan,
anything's possible," said Winston Sammut, managing director of
Sydney-based Folkstone Maxim Asset Management. "That kind of growth
isn't beyond the realms of possibility, but it could also tempt
someone" to take it over.
Westfield is due to begin the phased opening of a new mall at
the site of New York's World Trade Center by the end of the year.
It also plans to start redeveloping the Century City mall in Los
Angeles later this year, and complete the build by late 2017 or
early 2018.
Meanwhile, construction of a new megamall in Milan, Italy, could
start as soon as 2016 or as late as 2018. "It's easy to see the
company has upwards of 50% of its current value to develop again
over the next five-to-seven years," Mr. Lowy said.
The son of Westfield's founder and chairman Frank Lowy also
revealed on Wednesday that he had reversed his decision to stand
down as joint CEO of the company with his brother Steven. He said
he had changed his mind at the request of both his father and
Westfield's board, adding the company's prospects now looked more
exciting.
Mr. Lowy's remarks came on the same day Westfield reported a net
loss of US$215 million in the year through December, mainly due to
one-off charges associated with the demerger. Westfield's portfolio
of U.S. and U.K. malls increased comparable net operating income by
5.3%, as both regions' economies continued to recover.
Westfield said it still wanted to sell another six "noncore"
malls this year worth a combined US$1.2 billion--although Mr. Lowy
doused speculation among some industry analysts that it was looking
to sell a stake in the World Trade Center complex.
Write to Ross Kelly at ross.kelly@wsj.com
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