Westfield sells WTC retail stake
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SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Australia's Westfield America Trust has agreed to sell its retail interest in New York's World Trade Center to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for $140 million.
Westfield America Trust CEO executive Peter Lowy said Tuesday the sale is designed to help simplify the process of rebuilding the World Trade Center, which lost its twin towers in a terror attack on September 11, 2001.
"Our sale allows the Port Authority to move forward with the redevelopment free of the conflict between the interests of the public and our commercial/net lease rights," he said in a statement released to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).
Westfield America Trust is the second largest property trust listed on the ASX.
It looks after the U.S. assets of Australian shopping center developer Westfield Holdings, including a majority share in 66 U.S. centers branded as Westfield Shoppingtowns.
It said Tuesday the agreement gave it first rights if the Port Authority decided to offer the retail premises to a third party in the future. It expects the transaction to close before the end of the year.
Westfield Holdings, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Frank Lowy in 1960, has about $20 billion of assets under management in more than 100 shopping centers in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the United States.
Shares in Westfield America Trust are 0.54 percent lower to A$1.84 Tuesday afternoon, while Westfield Holdings is down 1 percent to A$14.04. The overall Australian market is about 0.4 percent ahead.