Lowy family and Westfield board ‘fully committed’ to Unibail deal

The Lowy family has strongly backed Unibail’s $30bn bid for Westfield as the group booked a solid lift in full-year profit.

Unibail Rodamco chief executive Christophe Cuvillier told The Australian this week: “We will not move the offer price, we think it’s full and fair.” (The Australian/Chris Pavlich )

The Lowy family and Westfield’s board have stated their full support at the group’s annual profit result for what will be Australia’s biggest takeover, the $30 billion bid for the mall owner by Europe’s Unibail-Rodamco, as sharemarket volatility cuts the value of the bid.

Answering analysts after delivering a 13.5 per cent uplift in profit to $US1.55bn for the 2017 year, co-chief executive Steven Lowy said “there is no plan B” if the transaction were not to go ahead.

“We are fully committed to the transaction and believe the transaction will be executed.”

“From the family’s, and company’s point of view, there has been no change in the strategic rationale (for the deal with Unibail),” Mr Lowy said.

Documentation for Unibail’s offer would be sent to shareholders in April with the shareholder vote expected in the first half of 2018.

Under the bid, lobbed by Unibail in December, Westfield securityholders will receive $US2.67 in cash and 0.01844 securities in Unibail for each Westfield (WFD) share.

On Monday, Unibail chief executive Christophe Cuvillier told The Australian that the French-listed group had ruled out sweetening the cash and scrip offer for Westfield in the wake of a fall in it’s share price and pressure from Westfield investors to increase the offer.

Unibail later responded to a query from the corporate regulator saying the bid it had no intention of changing the bid, but reserved it right to do so.

Westfield will pay a distribution of US25.5 cents for the year, up 1.6 per cent.

Mr Lowy acknowledged the challenging retail environment saying they continued the process of “weeding out underperforming retailers” with about 10 per cent replaced during the year.

Annual specialty sales across Westfield’s increased 2.2 per cent on the previous year with sales in its flagship malls up 3.3 per cent to $US892 a sq foot.

The company has a $US9.8bn development program with the £600m expansion of its Westfield London due in the first quarter to create Europe’s biggest shopping centre with annual sales of around £1.4bn.

The group will also start on its major project in Milan later this year.

It did not provide guidance for 2018.

At 11.22am (AEDT), Westfiled share were down 1 cent, or 0.12 per cent, at $8.61.