That disparity between book equity value and market cap is...

That disparity between book equity value and market cap is explained by two things:

1) There are serious questions as to whether Centro is a going concern, particularly in its current form. When a company is at serious risk of not remaining a going concern, the market will ordinarily apply a hefty discount to book equity value, as is the current case with Centro; and
2) People don't believe the book values anyway. The sharemarket vis-a-vis the LPT sector is predictive such that fluid market cap values will adjust much more quickly to what people believe are prevailing conditions than will the book values. Simply, book values *lag* the market, whereas market measures like share price and market cap *lead* the market. People are obviously predicting more falls in Centro's asset values, more write-offs, softer capitalisation rates, higher occupancy rates, and lower net operating incomes.