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Westfield enters bidding fray
MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) -- Australian mall owner Westfield Trust entered into a bidding fray for AMP Shopping Center Trust on Monday, after buying a 16.9 percent stake for Aust. $247 million ($146 million). Shopping center developer Westfield Holdings Ltd said Westfield Trust paid A$1.80 per investment unit. That is about 10 percent higher than a hostile bid equal to A$1.63 last week from Centro Properties Ltd, valued at A$1.3 billion. Units in AMP Shopping Center Trust, which is 21-percent owned by AMP Life, finished 6.5 percent higher Monday at A$1.80. That suggests investors are not expecting a bid to come in higher than the A$1.80 a unit that Westfield paid. Westfield Trust rose 1.2 percent to A$3.40 and Centro shares rose 1.9 percent to A$3.80. With its nine regional malls, the AMP Trust is coveted as Australia has a limited number of shopping centers. "Shopping centers are a premium quality asset because of the difficulty in getting zoning approvals and finding tenants," said Andrew Parsons, head of real estate securities for fund manager Lend Lease. After buying a 19.9 percent stake in AMP Shopping Center Trust, Centro last week offered three Centro securities, each made up of a share in Centro Properties Ltd and a unit in Centro Property Trust stapled together, plus 27.3 Australian cents cash for every seven AMP Shopping Center Trust units. Centro Chief Executive Andrew Scott said Centro was looking forward to finding out what Westfield planned to do. Bid on table"As far as we're concerned, we currently have a bid on the table. Really until somebody puts an alternative bid on the table, I don't think it's necessary for us to respond to anything," Scott told Reuters. He said Centro had no plans to raise its bid but declined to comment on whether the current bid would be Centro's last offer. "I'd prefer not to answer that question simply because who knows what's going to happen in the market. Certainly we believe the bid we've put on the table is a full bid," Scott said. Westfield Trust said its trust was financing the purchase through existing debt arrangements and that the transaction would boost its distributions per unit. "The Trust regards its investment in ART as a strategic holding," it said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. AMP declined to comment on Westfield's move and a spokeswoman said she did not know when AMP would respond to Centro's bid. Analysts and fund managers said AMP was likely to turn to Westfield as a white knight to defend it against Centro. "I'd be very surprised if Westfield Holdings used Westfield Trust unitholders' money just to have a passive investment. I think the game's got further to run," said Parsons. Parsons said an offer of A$1.80 per unit for AMP Shopping Center Trust would be a good price, but he would not be surprised if someone offered more. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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