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Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the owner of Westfield shopping centres, has announced a successful €1.25bn (£1.07bn) bond placement.
The two-tranche senior bond offering is intended to both strengthen the group’s liquidity position and extend its debt maturity.
The placement features a €650m (£559m) bond with a seven-year and five-month maturity and a 0.75% fixed coupon, and a €650m (£559m) bond with a 12-year maturity and a 1.375% fixed coupon.
URW said that the net proceeds from the issuance will be used for “general corporate purposes”, such as the refinancing of upcoming bond maturities.
It follows March’s announcement that the group’s shopping centre revenues saw a 30.1% year-on-year decline to £313.6m for Q1 FY21, as Covid-19 restrictions continued to impact retail footfall across Europe.
Jean-Marie Tritant, CEO at URW, said: “The group’s performance in the quarter was strongly impacted, and we anticipate 2021 to remain very challenging with tougher and longer restrictions impacting the group beyond Q1.
“While we saw encouraging leasing activity as brands continue to choose our locations in preparation for the post Covid-19 market rebound, our overall vacancy rate did increase slightly in Q1 as a result of the lagged impact of the pandemic on retailers.”
