Westfield bond raises £450m

The Australian owner of the Westfield London and Stratford City shopping centres has raised £450m to pay down some of its UK debts and release cash for new investments.

Westfield, which is vying to gain control of a shopping centre scheme in Croydon, returned to the sterling bond market yesterday after a seven-year absence with a £450m, 10-year issue. It is now focused on large-scale shopping centre developments and its plans for Croydon are part of this strategy.

This year it sold "non-core" shopping centres in Belfast, Tunbridge Wells and Guildford.