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Westfield adds to Sydney holdings
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Property group Westfield has paid Aust. $400 million ($245 million) to buy a key Sydney shopping center from Australia's largest retailer, Coles Myer. The sale price is a record for an individual Australian retail property, according to Coles Myer. The site, Sydney Central Plaza, is anchored by a seven-level Grace Bros department store, plus 74 specialty retailers. Grace Bros is part of the Coles Myer group. Westfield Trust, part of the Westfield group controlled by the billionaire Lowy family, said Monday its purchase of Sydney Central Plaza meant it now owned two neighboring properties in the heart of the city's retail district. It bought the Centerpoint site -- which contains the Sydney Tower tourist attraction -- in December 2001. Westfield said Central Plaza and Centerpoint had a combined value of about A$670 million. The two sites are linked via airbridges. Coles Myer CEO John Fletcher said the company would continue operating in the Central Plaza under a long-term lease, and would use cash from the sale to cut debt and fund its new store growth program . The Grace Bros store represents 47 percent of the site's total gross income, according to Westfield. Shares in Coles Myer finished 0.18 percent lower at A$5.51 on a day the benchmark S&P/ASX200 finished just in the red, down 0.09 percent to 2741.4. Westfield Trust closed 0.6 percent higher at A$3.34.
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