Scentre Group

This article is about Westfield's current operations in Australia and New Zealand. For operations until June 2014, see Westfield Group. For Westfield's current operations in Europe and the US, see Westfield Corporation.
Scentre Group
Public
Traded as ASX: SCG
Industry Real estate development
Shopping centre management
Predecessor Westfield Group
Founded 1960 (1960)
(Westfield Development Corporation lists on the Sydney Stock Exchange)
Headquarters 85 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, Australia
Area served
 Australia
New Zealand
Key people
 Brian Schwartz (Chairman)
Peter Allen (CEO)
Total assets A$40.9 billion (2015)[1]
Number of employees
 2,586 (2014)[2]
Website www.scentregroup.com

Scentre Group was created in June 2014 when the Westfield Group separated its United States and European businesses from its operations in Australia and New Zealand.[3] It is one of the world’s leading shopping centre companies 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 company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and has a shopping centre portfolio that includes investment interests in 43 shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand, encompassing around 12,544 retail outlets and total assets under management in excess of A$39.4 billion.[1]

History

The Scentre Group has origins in the western suburbs of Sydney. The first development was named "Westfield Place", and opened in July 1959 in Blacktown.[4] 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.[4]

Australian Real Estate Investment Trust (A-REIT) shares have been highly volatile over the past decade, as Chart 1 shows.[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 the 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. Westfield seems to form clusters of centres around particular cities or within a small number of states. 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, the company opened a fully new centre in the country.[7]

In April 2012, it was announced that the 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.[8]

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. The 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 Groups shopping centre portfolio.

In addition to transforming Westfield shopping centres in Sydney, Bondi Junction, and Queensland, Scentre Group is developing centres in Miranda in Sydney and Mt Gravatt in Brisbane. Chermside in Brisbane and Marion in Adelaide are development projects the company will be starting in 2015.[9]

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

Current Operations

Scentre Group currently has interests in total assets worth A$38.6 billion, owning 43 shopping malls in Australia and New Zealand − with over 3.8 million square meters of retail space. The company is also currently building centres in Miranda in Sydney and Mt Gravatt in Brisbane.

Australia

Westfield Shopping Centres in 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.

Centre name Location Total retail floor area
m2 sq ft
Westfield Belconnen Belconnen, Australian Capital Territory 94,718 m2 1,019,536 sq ft
Westfield Woden Woden Valley, Australian Capital Territory 72,292 m2 778,144 sq ft
Westfield Bondi Junction Bondi Junction, New South Wales 127,716 m2 1,374,723 sq ft
Westfield Burwood Burwood, New South Wales 63,319 m2 681,560 sq ft
Westfield Chatswood Chatswood, New South Wales 77,107 m2 829,972 sq ft
Westfield Eastgardens Eastgardens, New South Wales 85,085 m2 915,847 sq ft
Westfield Hornsby Hornsby, New South Wales 99,953 m2 1,075,885 sq ft
Westfield Hurstville Hurstville, New South Wales 62,542 m2 673,196 sq ft
Westfield Kotara Kotara, New South Wales 68,491 m2 737,230 sq ft
Westfield Liverpool Liverpool, New South Wales 85,199 m2 917,074 sq ft
Westfield Miranda Miranda, New South Wales 107,929 m2 1,161,738 sq ft
Westfield Mount Druitt Mount Druitt, New South Wales 60,190 m2 647,879 sq ft
Westfield Parramatta Parramatta, New South Wales 137,321 m2 1,478,110 sq ft
Westfield Penrith Penrith, New South Wales 91,690 m2 986,942 sq ft
Westfield Sydney Sydney CBD, New South Wales 167,975 m2 1,808,067 sq ft
Westfield Tuggerah Tuggerah, New South Wales 83,391 m2 897,613 sq ft
Westfield Warringah Mall Brookvale, New South Wales 126,634 m2 1,363,077 sq ft
Westfield Carindale Carindale, Queensland 135,496 m2 1,458,466 sq ft
Westfield Chermside Chermside, Queensland 150,927 m2 1,624,564 sq ft
Westfield Garden City Gravatt, Queensland 98,651 m2 1,061,870 sq ft
Westfield Helensvale Helensvale, Queensland 44,626 m2 480,350 sq ft
Westfield North Lakes North Lakes, Queensland 61,428 m2 661,205 sq ft
Westfield Marion Marion, South Australia 135,241 m2 1,455,722 sq ft
Westfield Tea Tree Plaza Modbury, South Australia 93,974 m2 1,011,527 sq ft
Westfield West Lakes West Lakes, South Australia 72,823 m2 783,860 sq ft
Westfield Airport West Airport West, Victoria 123,190 m2 1,326,006 sq ft
Westfield Doncaster Doncaster, Victoria 123,190 m2 1,326,006 sq ft
Westfield Fountain Gate Narre Warren, Victoria 174,900 m2 1,882,607 sq ft
Westfield Geelong Geelong, Victoria 51,643 m2 555,880 sq ft
Westfield Knox Wantirna South, Victoria 141,934 m2 1,527,764 sq ft
Westfield Plenty Valley Mill Park, Victoria 53,845 m2 579,582 sq ft
Westfield Southland Cheltenham, Victoria 129,167 m2 1,390,342 sq ft
Westfield Carousel Cannington, Western Australia 82,370 m2 886,623 sq ft
Westfield Innaloo Innaloo, Western Australia 47,461 m2 510,865 sq ft
Westfield Whitford City Hillarys, Western Australia 77,751 m2 836,904 sq ft

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] Westfield now has NZ$2.8 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 Pakuranga Mall.[13]

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.[14]

In 2015 two more Westfield malls sold by Scentre Group were Chartwell Shopping Centre (formerly Westfield Chartwell) and Queensgate Shopping Centre (formerly Westfield Queensgate).[15]

Centre name Location Total retail floor area
m2 sq ft
Westfield Albany Albany, Auckland 53,217 m2 572,823 sq ft
Westfield Manukau City Manukau City, Auckland 45,528 m2 490,059 sq ft
Westfield Newmarket Newmarket Auckland 31,491 m2 338,966 sq ft
Westfield St Lukes St Lukes, Auckland 39,699 m2 427,316 sq ft
Westfield WestCity Henderson, Auckland 36,180 m2 389,438 sq ft
Westfield Riccarton Riccarton Christchurch 55,397 m2 596,288 sq ft

Westfield Labs

Based in San Francisco, California, Westfield Labs[16] is an entity of Westfield Corporation. As part of its mission, Westfield Labs works closely with Scentre Group to provide it with innovative digital shopping initiatives that can be deployed throughout the company’s operations in Australia and New Zealand. The Lab’s mission is to create products and experiences that will innovate the retail ecosystem and converge the digital shopper with the physical world. Through social, mobile, and digital market opportunities, Westfield Labs transforms emerging ideas and technologies into viable businesses that move the retail industry forward.

References

  1. 1 2 "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. 1 2 "Westfield History" (PDF). About us. p. 14. Retrieved 5 January 2007. |chapter= ignored (help)
  5. ↑ Mills, Jon (31 March 2015). "A-REITs expensive on almost every measure". intelligentinvestor.com.au. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 Sammartino, André; Van Ruth, Frances (2007). "The Westfield Group". In Dick, H.; Merrett, D. 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. ↑ "Starwood Capital Group Completes $1.6B Acquisition of Seven Dominant Regional Malls from Westfield Group" (Press release). 22 November 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "SCENTRE GROUP FORECASTS FFO OF 10.88 CENTS PER SECURITY FOR THE SECOND HALF OF 2014" (Press release). 26 August 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". 1 July 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  13. ↑ Hutching, Chris (11 December 2013). "Another Westfield Mall Sold". New Zealand Herald.
  14. ↑ Kloten, Niko; Harris, Catherine (7 November 2014). "Singapore fund buys into NZ Westfield shopping centres". Stuff. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  15. ↑ Hamish Rutherford (27 November 2015). "Westfield malls in Lower Hutt and Hamilton to be rebranded after sale". Stuff.co.nz.
  16. ↑ "Westfield Labs". July 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
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