Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE
Societas Europaea
Traded as Euronext: UL
CAC 40 Component
Industry Property
Founded 2018 (2018) (acquisition of Westfield Corporation by Unibail-Rodamco)
Headquarters Paris, France
Key people
Products Shopping centers, convention and exhibition venues, office buildings
€1.318 billion (2012)
Total assets €39.3 billion (June 30, 2016)
Total equity €17.83 billion (September 30, 2013)
Number of employees
 3700 (average, 2018)
Website www.urw.com
Unibail-Rodamco purchased much of Shopping City Süd, Austria's largest retail complex, in May 2008.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE is a European company, headquartered in Paris, that specializes in commercial property investments. It is the largest commercial real estate company in Europe.[1] Unibail-Rodamco was created in June 2007 through the merger of Unibail (created in France in 1968) and Rodamco Europe (created in 1999 in the Netherlands). Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield manages three types of assets: shopping centers, convention centers and office properties. The Company counts 1500 employees on its payroll and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.[2][3]

On 12 December 2017 the boards of Westfield and Unibail-Rodamco unanimously agreed to buy Westfield Corporation, an Australian shopping centre multinational, in a $US24.7 billion ($A32.8 billion) deal.[4] The takeover was completed in June 2018 and the company's trading name became Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.

History

Unibail was founded as a finance leasing unit in 1968 by the company then known as Worms & Cie. In 1991, the company started to focus on the property investment sector, and to phase out involvement in lease financing. Unibail built up a portfolio of property with 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.[5][6]

Rodamco Europe was formed in 1999 when Rodamco, a property investment fund set up by the Dutch asset management group Robeco in 1979, was broken 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.[7]

On April 10, 2007, Rodamco Europe announced an agreement to conduct a merger of equals[8] with Unibail to create the largest publicly traded property company in Europe.[9] 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.[10] The merged entity took effect as a société anonyme under the new name Unibail-Rodamco on June 25, 2007.[11]

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 has led the company to 5 years of growth in spite of the tough economic conditions.[12]

In May 2015, Unibail revealed it had signed an agreement with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to sell its 46.1 percent stake in German shopping mall operator MFI AG for €394 million.[13]

In December 2017, Unibail took over Westfield Corporation, which operates 35 shopping centres in the US and the UK, for a reported price of US$24.8bn. The Australian shopping centres branded as Westfield and held by Scentre, were not acquired by Unibail.[14]

Architecture

To conceive and design its buildings, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield works with high-end architectural firms like Thomas Mayne of Morphosis firm,[15] Herzog & de Meuron,[16] RIADH group (De La Hoz, Cottrell, Michelangeli), the firm Architecture Farshid Moussavi, Cuno & Jean Brullmann Crochon-Luc,[17] Jean-Paul Viguier,[18] Epstein & Glaiman / Recevki Architecture, Araldo Cossutta & Ponte, Arte-Charpentier ...

Real estate assets

Centrum Chodov, largest shopping mall in Prague owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Shopping centers

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield owns 102 shopping centers in 13 European countries with an over 1.2 billion visits a year. 55 of those get more than 6 million visits per year.[19]

In March 2012, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield introduced the 4-star rating for its shopping centers. This ranking sets quality standards at all stages of the client's visit in a shopping center. SGS is responsible for auditing and validating the label in each case. 571 requirements are necessary to obtain the 4-star rating. The staff has to be trained for outstanding customer service and retailers have to commit to a strict quality code.[20]

Most prestigious centers:

  • Lyon Confluence (Lyon, France)
  • Carrousel du Louvre (Paris, France)
  • Carré Sénart (Lieusaint, France)
  • Parly 2 (Le Chesnay, France)
  • Les Quatre Temps (La Défense, France)
  • So Ouest (Levallois, France)
  • Piazza Center Hoofddorp—De Vier Meren (Hoofddorp, Netherlands)
  • Aéroville (Paris – Charles de Gaulle, France)
  • Mall of Scandinavia (Stockholm, Sweden)
  • Nacka Forum (Stockholm, Sweden)
  • La Maquinista (Barcelona, Spain)
  • Parquesur (Madrid, Spain)
  • Galeria Mokotów (Warsaw, Poland)
  • Arkadia (Warsaw, Poland)
  • Wroclavia (Wrocław, Poland)
  • Donauzentrum (Vienna, Austria)
  • Stadshart Amstelveen (Amstelveen, Netherlands)
  • Shopping City Süd (Vienna, Austria)
  • Aupark (Bratislava, Slovakia)
  • Centrum Chodov (Prague, Czech Republic)
  • Fisketorvet (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Convention centers

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield owns at parity with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris (CCIP) the companies Viparis and Comexposium. Viparis manages convention centers for conferences, exhibitions and corporate events in and around Paris. Comexposium is specialized in organizing events.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield owns many congress centers in France. Through Viparis, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield owns a total of 300,000 m2 wide, spread over 10 sites in Paris.

Office properties

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield invests and develops modern and efficient buildings of over 10,000 m² of GLA in Paris, the central business district of Paris (Capital 8) and in La Défense (Tour Ariane).

Those office properties include:

Corporate governance

  • Christophe Cuvillier : Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer
  • Jean-Marie Tritant : Chief Operating Officer
  • Armelle Carminati-Rabasse : Chief Resources Officer
  • Jaap L. Tonckens : Chief Financial Officer
  • Olivier Bossard : Chief Development Officer
  • Fabrice Mouchel : Deputy Chief Financial Officer

Shareholders

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is 100% free float, no shareholder holds more than 10% of the share capital:[21] Shareholder structure as of October 31, 2012:[22]

Indexes

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is listed in several indexes, including:[23]

  • FTSE4Good (since 2008)
  • Dow Jones Sustainability Index (World since 2008 and Europe since 2010)
  • Advanced Sustainability Performance Eurozone Index (since 2010)
  • Ethibel Sustainability Index (since 2011)
  • ECPI Index (since 2011)
  • STOXX® Global ESG Leaders Index (since 2011)
  • Standard Ethics French Index (since 2015)

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.[24]

References

  1. ↑ Kemble-Diaz, William (May 22, 2008). "Unibail-Rodamco in near-$1 bln Austrian mall buy". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  2. ↑ Unibail-Rodamco. "Portfolio". Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Frankfurt Stock Exchange
  4. ↑ Cummins, Carolyn (December 12, 2017). "End of an era: Westfield accepts $32.8b offer". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  5. ↑ Unibail-Rodamco. "Unibail Historical Data". Retrieved 2007-06-26.
  6. ↑ Unibail-Rodamco. "List of properties". Archived from the original on 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
  7. ↑ Rodamco Europe. "History". Archived from the original on 2007-05-13. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
  8. ↑ Rodamco Europe. "Rodamco and Unibail merger". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-23.
  9. ↑ "Unibail, Rodamco to create European property leader". Reuters. April 10, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-23.
  10. ↑ "Unibail secures merger with Rodamco Europe". Reuters. June 21, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-23.
  11. ↑ "Amsterdam shares close slightly lower; Hagemeyer carries the day". AFX News. June 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
  12. ↑ "Unibail-Rodamco SE". Bloomberg. March 15, 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  13. ↑ James Regan (15 May 2015). "Unibail sells German mall operator stake to Canada's CPPIB". Reuters. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  14. ↑ Thakur Mahrotri, Pooja; Burgess, Matthew (12 December 2017). "Unibail Buys Westfield for $16 Billion as Mall Owners Merge". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  15. ↑ Le Phare (The Lighthouse), Paris, France, Designbuild-network.com
  16. ↑ Joseph Ayoub, Tour Triangle, Whitezine, 7 June 2012
  17. ↑ Towers, buildings and consultations in La Défense, Nxtbook.fr
  18. ↑ Lyon Confluence / Jean-Paul Viguier et Associes, Arch Daily, 8 June 2012
  19. ↑ "Unibail-Rodamco". www.unibail-rodamco.com. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  20. ↑ Donata Karpik, Unibail-Rodamco introduces 4-star ranking for malls, CIJ Journal, 12 June 2012
  21. ↑ UNIBAIL-RODAMCO (UL), 4-traders.com
  22. ↑ Shareholding Structure as of October 31, 2012, Unibail official Website / Shareholders, October 31, 2012
  23. ↑ Sustainability, awards and ratings, Unibail-rodamco.com
  24. ↑ http://www.standardethicsindices.eu/standard-ethics-french-index.html
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