UNIBAIL-RODAMCO-WESTFIELD
Our fifth MALL MAKER is a merger of three international real estate companies. Unibail ["Yoo-nee-biy"] had its beginnings in France, in 1968. Rodamco Europe was formed in 1999, from the break up of a previous Holland-based concern known as Rodamco. Unibail and Rodamco Europe merged in June 2007, forming a company known as Unibail-Rodamco.
Meanwhile, the Westfield company had had humble beginnings in Sydney, Australia, in 1959. The name Westfield Development Corporation, was created as an amalgamation of "west" (its first property being west of Sydney) and "field" (a shopping venue was being built on a previously undeveloped piece of farmland).
Westfield's first retail complex, WESTFIELD SHOPPING CENTRE, opened in Blacktown (a suburb of Sydney) in July 1959. The company's first major shopping precinct, BURWOOD WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN, was also built in the environs of Sydney. It first traded to the public in October 1966.
In 1977, the corporation acquired TRUMBULL SHOPPING PARK, in Trumbull, Connecticut, which was its first property in the United States. In 1997, operations were expanded to New Zealand. The United Kingdom marketplace was entered in the year 2000.
Meanwhile, in November 1998, a massive rebranding campaign was undertaken. All Westfield properties were renamed with the lengthy "Westfield Shoppingtown..." prefix. The Shoppingtown reference was dropped in June 2005.
In July of 2004, three entities -Westfield Holdings, Westfield Trust and Westfield America Trust- were merged. A new corporate identity, known as the Westfield Group, was created. The Westfield Group split into two companies in June 2014. The Scentre Group would develop and operate shopping centers in Australia and New Zealand, with the Westfield Corporation overseeing properties in the United States, Great Britain and Italy.
With the merger of the Westfield Corporation and Unibail-Rodamco, in June 2018, Westfield properties in the United States, Great Britain and Italy came under the ownership and operation of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (a.k.a. "URW"). Westfield properties in Australia and New Zealand were not included in the merger and remained in the Scentre Group portfolio.
Unfortunately, the big Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield merger of 2018 could not have been carried out at a worse juncture in time. Within 2 years, the Covid-19 pandemic was spreading around the world, reeking havoc on an already struggling American retail industry. Shopping malls were temporarily closed, causing corporate profits to plummet.
In February 2021, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield announced that, when the US economy had sufficiently improved, they would be selling off all American mall properties, concentrating only on their European holdings.
Sources:
http://www.westfield.com / The Westfield Group
http:;//www.urw.com / Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield
www.reuters.com
Sources:
http://www.westfield.com / The Westfield Group
http:;//www.urw.com / Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield
www.reuters.com
"Westfield Group" and "Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield" articles on Wikipedia
