More Westfield sales with $1.2bn US deal GLOBAL shopping centre giant Westfield Group has advanced its plan to become a property manager rather than an owner after announcing the sale of major stakes in a $US1.3 billion ($1.24bn) portfolio of Florida shopping malls. New York-based real estate investor O'Connor Capital Partners is to pay book value for 49.9 per cent of the portfolio of six shopping centres in the US, and Westfield will remain as its leasing and development manager, with terms in line with previous joint-venture deals reached by the group. Westfield will realise about $US700 million in net proceeds from the deal. "This agreement carries on the group's strategy of introducing joint-venture partners into our assets globally as well as disposing of non-core assets," said Westfield Group co-chief executive Peter Lowy. The deal is one of several where the mall giant has offloaded major stakes in its shopping centres, including 50 per cent stakes in its entire Australian shopping centre portfolio to the recently formed satellite Westfield Retail Trust. Last year, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a 45 per cent stake in 12 of its US malls in a deal that priced the portfolio at $4.8bn. Westfield Group also offloaded majority stakes in eight shopping centres for $US1.154bn. All except one were purchased by Barry Sternlicht's Starwood Capital Group for book value. The malls were typically in poorer catchment areas, with limited development potential or with nearby competition. Westfield has indicated further US sales are likely this year. Last month, when delivering its full-year result, joint chief executive Steven Lowy indicated there could be $US1bn of property sales in the US. He said the group had spent hundreds of millions of dollars repositioning the portfolio in a number of ways, including re-leasing space and the addition of leisure facilities that are not usually included in malls. O'Connor Capital has previously looked at buying some of Westfield's US shopping centres. Founded in 1983, the private property investor, developer and manager has acquired or developed over $US20bn worth of real estate. Commonwealth Bank real estate analyst David Lloyd praised the latest deal. "All these types of deals are positive, because they continue to transition Westfield to a more capital-light and higher return-on-equity business," he said. I expect a lot more of these type of announcements to come true over time. Westfield said the Florida deal diluted the group's funds from operations (FFO) this year by about 1 cent per security. But the capital will be redeployed into Westfield's share buyback program.