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September 2011 - Crédit Agricole CIB involved in the financing of Westfield's new Stratford City shopping centre
On 20th September 2011 Westfield successfully closed a 6-year GBP 550 million structured real estate finance transaction in which Crédit Agricole CIB acted as one of the three mandated lead arrangers.
The loan facility was utilised to refinance Westfield’s newly-opened Stratford City Shopping centre adjacent to the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London.
The other two mandated lead arrangers were HSBC and Eurohypo AG.
The syndication received an overwhelming response in the market and was considerably oversubscribed.
Westfield Stratford City shopping centre opened on September 13th 2011. Costing GBP 1.45 billion the development comprises 1.9 million square feet of retail, leisure and office space and will form the prestigious gateway to the Olympic Games in 2012.
Benefitting from excellent public transport links and a 5,000 space car park the centre includes some 300 shops anchored by John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and a 17 screen all digital Vue cinema.
Westfield Stratford City is the largest urban shopping centre in Europe.
London Mayor Boris Johnson said the project was "setting the pace for the transformation of East London". He added: "It is one of the most important legacies of the 2012 Olympics. It will create 18,000 jobs and, as a result of Westfield's investment, have some of the most modern additions to London's public transport infrastructure."
"The Westfield Stratford City transaction is a perfect example of fruitful collaboration between Real Estate & Lodging (Paris, Australia, London) and Global Loan Syndication Group. Crédit Agricole CIB is proud to mix its expertises on behalf of Westfield Group, a core client of the Bank for many years," commented Sue Twiney, Senior Banker, Crédit Agricole CIB.
The Westfield Group has interests in and operates one of the world's largest shopping centre portfolios. The global portfolio has 124 high quality regional shopping centres in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil valued in excess of USD 59 billion, with approximately 25,000 retailers in more than 10.5 million square metres of retail space.