Further shopping mall consolidation as Westfield acquired by Unibail

Westfield, the Australian shopping mall giant, is to be acquired for $24.7bn by France's Unibail-Rodamco – the second major shopping mall operator buyout in the past week.

Last week property group Hammerson revealed it was taking over intu, owner of destinations such as Lakeside in Essex, Metrocentre Gateshead and the Trafford Centre in Manchester. That deal creates a £21bn pan-European group.

Unibail operates around 70 shopping centres in Europe while Australia-based Westfield operates 35 in the UK and US, including the two London super-malls in White City and Stratford, and the deal would create the largest shopping centre owner in the world.

The Lowy family, Westfield’s biggest shareholder, is selling its 9.5% stake for a mixture of cash and Unibail shares, which it intends to keep and Unibail has said it intends to retain the Westfield brand and intends to roll out further malls in the US and Europe.

Unibail-Rodamco CEO Christophe Cuvillier said the takeover of Westfield “adds a number of new attractive retail markets in London and the wealthiest catchment areas in the United States”.

With shopping malls competing with online shopping for consumer spend, property owners are focusing on flagship destinations to drive footfall. A number of UK malls have been undergoing transformations of late. Westfield London is due to open a £600m extension next spring, while British Land's Meadowhall in Sheffield has just completed a £60m refurb.

Significant new centres have also opened this year, such as Westgate Oxford, owned by the Westgate Oxford Alliance which is a joint venture between Landsec and The Crown Estate, and Lexicon Bracknell, which is owned by The Bracknell Regeneration Partnership, a 50:50 joint venture between Legal & General Capital and Schroder UK Real Estate Fund.