Source: www.reuters.comStrong interest in Centro A$1 bln...

Source: www.reuters.com

Strong interest in Centro A$1 bln Australian malls
Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:00am EDT

MELBOURNE, July 25 (Reuters) - Australian property firm Centro Properties Group (CNP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has had strong interest from potential buyers for four Australian shopping centres worth more than A$1 billion ($960 million), the firm involved in the sale said on Friday.

Centro, which owns about 700 U.S. malls, has been under pressure to sell assets to help pay down debt, after receiving several extensions on the repayment of A$2.8 billion in debt, now due in December.

"There has been very strong institutional interest in the portfolio and the options are currently being assessed by Centro," Simon Rooney, head of retail investments for Australia at property firm Jones Lang LaSalle, told Reuters.

"A decision is expected next week."

Rooney declined to say whether the interest came from domestic or international institutions. Expressions of interest closed two weeks ago.

Centro is selling four Australian shopping centres, including Bankstown in western Sydney and the Galleria in the western city of Perth. The four have a total book value of A$1.157 billion.

The four are part of the Centro Australia Wholesale Fund, which has 28 properties. The company originally wanted to sell the fund in its entirety, but has decided to sell some assets separately.

A spokesman for Centro said the asset sale process was continuing and declined to say when any announcement on the Australian portfolio might be made.

Earlier this month, Centro sold 29 of its U.S. shopping malls for $714 million, a discount of about 10 percent to the properties' previous book value. Analysts said that was a solid result given conditions in the U.S. market. ($1=A$1.04) (Reporting by Victoria Thieberger; editing by Jonathan Standing)


Ends.

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