Australia's Westfield Group sells seven US shopping centers for $1.64bln

Australian shopping centre group, The Westfield Group is set to sell its seven US shopping centers to private equity company Starwood Capital Group for 1.64 billion dollars.

The seven shopping centers in Ohio, Washington State, California and Indiana, will be owned and managed by Starwood and Westfield, which operates one of the world's largest shopping center portfolios, will maintain a 10 percent equity interest.

Westfield said that the transaction value of 1.64 billion dollars is 120 million dollars below the book value of the assets at the end of December 2012, and in line with book values as of June 30.

Westfield Group Co-Chief Executive Officer Peter Lowy said that they are focused on redeploying their capital into superior retail destinations in major cities through divesting non-core assets and introducing joint venture partners into their high quality portfolio of assets.

After the deal, which is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2013, Westfield will own and operate 40 US shopping centers.