Kiwi Westfield Assets On The Block

A stake in five Westfield shopping centres across the ditch is on the block in what is being described as a once-in-a-generation listing.

The assets across Auckland and Christchurch comprise 280,500sq m of gross lettable area and rakes in combined annual sales of more than $2.2 billion.

The 49 per cent, non-management interest in the property portfolio is being marketed by Lachlan MacGillivray and Richard Kirke of Colliers with agents from Bayleys in association with Knight Frank. 

“This is a truly unique opportunity to immediately dominate the New Zealand retail market,” MacGillivray said.

“The centres form an integral component of Auckland’s and Christchurch’s retail and economic fabric.”

The portfolio includes 60ha of prime metro land with development potential and attracts more than 44.4 million visitors each year. 

▲ The five assets would provide development upside and significant exposure to the asset class.

The portfolio is in an established JV structure with a notable retail destination manager. Colliers’ Richard Kirke said they expected international interest in the listing. 

“New Zealand recorded strong levels of immigration and a rebound in the tourism sector following the re-opening of the border. Annual net migration has reached a record high in 2023, boosting consumer spending and demand for goods and services,” Kirke said. 

The portfolio comprises Westfield Newmarket, Westfield Albany, Westfield St Lukes, Westfield Manukau City and Westfield Riccarton. 

Data from Colliers earlier this year highlighted the ongoing investor interest in the retail space after a year of resilient sales. 

There was more than $6 billion in transactions in Australia last year. 

According to Colliers director of national retail research Nik Potter, while this was a decrease of 4.3 per cent compared to 2022, it was a far better performance than other commercial asset classes. 

“Retail in Australia has retained strong occupancy levels with pockets of rental growth and retail spending has been relatively persistent throughout the year,” he said. 

“Over the next 10 years, however, we need 2.25 million square metres of additional floor space to not even grow, just maintain our current levels of floorspace per capita.

“That’s brought a lot of interest from new investors.”