Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE is a European commercial real estate company headquartered in Paris, France. Its history originates with the formation of two separate shopping centre operators, Unibail and Rodamco Europe, which merged in 2007 and became a societas Europaea in 2009. The company acquired Australian shopping centre operator Westfield Corporation, created by the split of Westfield Group, in 2018. As of 2018, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is the largest commercial real estate company in Europe, and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50stock market index. Its portfolio consists of retail property, office buildings, and convention centers within Europe and North America. Many of its shopping centres use the Westfield brand launched by Westfield Group in 1960 and shared with Scentre Group for properties in Australia and New Zealand since 2014. Retail properties owned by Unibail-Rodamco before the merger will carry the Westfield name.
History
Background
Unibail was founded in 1968 as a finance-leasing unit by a company called Worms & Cie. In 1991, Unibail started focusing on the property investment sector, and phased out involvement in lease financing. It built a property portfolio of close to 30 shopping centres across France – including the Forum des Halles and the arcade within CNIT – and substantial office properties in Paris and La Défense – including the Tour Ariane and the Paris Expo group of convention centres. Rodamco Europe formed in 1999 when Rodamco, a property investment fund set up by the Dutch asset management group Robeco in 1979, broke up into various independent listed companies covering different parts of the world. Rodamco Europe subsequently collected a portfolio primarily consisting of shopping centres and other retail spaces across 14 European countries, along with some office property in France and the Netherlands, acquiring smaller European rivals in the process.
2007–2017: Unibail-Rodamco
On April 10, 2007, Rodamco Europe announced an agreement to conduct a merger of equals with Unibail to create the largest publicly traded property company in Europe. The merger was confirmed on June 21, 2007, after Unibail announced the acquisition of 80% of Rodamco's shares, making its offer for the remainder unconditional. The merged entity took effect as a société anonyme under the new name Unibail-Rodamco on June 25, 2007. On June 1, 2011, Unibail-Rodamco hired former FNAC CEO Christophe Cuvillier as the new COO. In collaboration with CEO and Chairman of the Board Guillaume Poitrinal, he led the company to five years of growth in spite of tough economic conditions. In May 2015, Unibail revealed it had signed an agreement with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to sell its 46.1% stake in German shopping mall operator MFI AG for €394 million.
2018–present: Acquisition of Westfield
In December 2017, Unibail took over Westfield Corporation, which operates 35 shopping centres in the US and the UK, for a reported price of 24.8 billion. The Australian shopping centres branded as Westfield and held by Scentre were not acquired by Unibail. The deal was completed in June 2018, and the shopping centres owned by Unibail-Rodamco before the merger had their names modified to have the Westfield brand, with 10 flagships starting in September 2019.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has a 100% free float; no shareholder holds more than 10% of the share capital. The following represents the shareholder structure as of May 11, 2020:
Advanced Sustainability Performance Eurozone Index
Ethibel Sustainability Index
ECPI Index
STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index
Standard Ethics French Index
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is rated A by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. In 2015, Standard Ethics Aei has given a rating to Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield in order to include it in its Standard Ethics French Index.
Assets
To conceive and design its buildings, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield works with high-end architectural firms like Thomas Mayne of Morphosis firm, Herzog & de Meuron, RIADH group, the firm Architecture Farshid Moussavi, Cuno & Jean Brullmann Crochon-Luc, Jean-Paul Viguier, Epstein & Glaiman / Recevki Architecture, Araldo Cossutta & Ponte, and Arte-Charpentier.
