How Frank Lowy’s $33bn Westfield deal was sealed on the tarmac in Paris

Frank Lowy sealed the $33bn takeover on his private plane in Paris.

Unibail-Rodamco’s Belgian-born boss Christophe Cuvillier will launch his courtship of the Australian market live from London tonight, as he seeks to gain shareholder approval of the European giant’s $33 billion bid for Sir Frank Lowy’s Westfield International.

As Culliver, 55, who lived in Sydney for three years from 1993 when he was working for L’Oreal, preps for his Q&A, details on how Australia’s biggest ever takeover was sealed are filtering down from the northern hemisphere.

While the companies have known each other for some time, the deal began in earnest only about six weeks ago.

Critical to its genesis and throughout was heavy hitter investment banker Robert Leitao, the UK-based global head of advisory at Rothschild and one of the firm’s managing partners, who has been a long-time, trusted adviser to Westfield and the billionaire Lowy family.

He and Rothschild’s Sydney-based head of real estate advisory for Australia Duncan Wilmer were the lead bankers for Westfield on the deal, which will likely be the transaction of Wilmer’s career.

Leitao was the only person with Sir Frank when Lowy flew to Paris to conclude the historic deal with Culliver.

The agreement was struck with a handshake.

Cuviller had planned to journey to Lowy in London to finalise the transaction, but a late change of plans meant Lowy instead flew in his own jet to the French capital, with the key elements of the deal concluded between the pair on Lowy’s plane.

Lowy and Culliver are believed to have toasted with a quick glass of champagne - what else? - before Sir Frank embraced the businessman in a hug and declared: “I couldn’t think of a better home for the assets I’ve spent my life building”.

It all took less than an hour on the tarmac, before 87-year-old Lowy headed back to London and the bunker where his team had been working around the clock for the past few weeks.

Along with Rothschild’s head office in the City, the war room for the secret mega deal was the luxury Ham Yard Hotel in Soho where most of the Westfield team was holed up.

Along with Leitao and Wilmer, Sir Frank and his co-CEO sons Peter Lowy and Steven Lowy, key members in the bunker included Westfield general counsel Simon Tuxen, finance execs Elliott Rusanow and Mark Stefanek, and US counsel Peter Schwartz, who are all 20-plus year Westfield veterans.

By early next year, each of those trusted lieutenants will have dealt themselves out of a job. Word is all will depart once the takeover is complete.