A less than auspicious stockmarket start yesterday for Westfield Retail Trust (WRT), the spin-off from the Lowy family’s Westfield Group.
Trading in the securities in the new trust started yesterday and it wasn’t the best of starts.
Yesterday the shares closed down more than 3%, or 9c, at $2.66 when trading started on a deferred basis.
Echoing the float of Myer 13 months ago, (which didn’t hit its $4.10 issue price on the day of listing, or since), Westfield Retail didn’t get anywhere near the issue price of $2.75.
It peaked at $2.69 and hit a low of $2.62 with more than 100 million units traded.
WRT raised a less-than-expected $2.1 billion, the proceeds of which will be used to pay down debts.
The Westfield Group and the Lowys had been aiming at a total of $3.5 billion, with $1.75 billion of that issue underwritten.
Westfield Retail Trust owns a 50% stake in 54 malls in Australia and New Zealand.
