SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — The Macerich Co. (NYSE: MAC) has formed joint ventures to which the company will contribute interests in eight regionals malls totaling roughly $2.3 billion.
GIC will have a 40 percent interest in five of the assets, and Heitman will have a 49 percent interest in the remaining three assets. The transactions are expected to close in phases starting in October 2015 and concluding in the first quarter of 2016.
“We are pleased to have entered into these transactions with two very well-regarded investment partners on this cross-section of assets from the Macerich portfolio,” says Arthur Coppola, chairman and CEO of Macerich. “The expansion of our long-standing relationship with leading real estate investment management specialist Heitman and the beginning of a new one with GIC, one of the world’s premier global investment funds, validates the strength of the Macerich operating platform and demonstrates the demand for high-quality regional mall assets, while also providing the company with significant capital to create additional shareholder value.”
Macerich sold a 40 percent interest to GIC for the following five assets:
• Arrowhead Town Center in Glendale, Ariz.
• Lakewood Center in Lakewood, Calif.
• Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, Calif.
• South Plains Mall in Lubbock, Texas
• Washington Square in Portland, Ore.
Macerich sold a 49 percent interest to Heitman for the following three assets:
• Deptford Mall in Deptford, N.J.
• FlatIron Crossing in Broomfield, Colo.
• Twenty Ninth Street in Boulder, Colo.
Eastdil Secured/Wells Fargo acted as exclusive advisor to Macerich in arranging these transactions.
Concurrent with the joint venture closings, Macerich plans to put financing on South Plains Mall and Twenty Ninth Street center and will refinance the debt on Washington Square, Los Cerritos Center and Arrowhead Towne Center.
“We expect these high-quality assets to continue generating steady income streams and are confident of their growth moving forward,” says Lee Kok Sun, regional head for Americas at GIC Real Estate. “As a long-term value investor, we look forward to partnering with Macerich, one of the premier owners and operators of shopping centers in the U.S., as they share our core investment belief of being long-term.”
Macerich, an S&P 500 company, is a REIT that focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. Macerich currently owns 55 million square feet of real estate consisting primarily of interests in 51 regional shopping centers.
The Santa Monica-based REIT’s stock price closed Wednesday, Sept. 30 at $76.93 per share, up from $63.82 per share at this time last year.
GIC is a leading global investment firm with more than $100 billion in assets under management. Established in 1981, the firm manages Singapore’s foreign reserves. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs more than 1,200 people across 10 offices worldwide.
Founded in 1966, Heitman LLC is a global real estate investment management firm with more than $34.5 billion in assets. Headquartered in Chicago, the company has offices in Los Angeles, London, Luxembourg, Dusseldorf, Munich, Warsaw, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Melbourne.
— John Nelson