The shopping center specialist Gazit Globe’s US subsidiary Equity One will be merging with Regency Centers in a deal expected to create the largest shopping center REIT in the United States. Combined, the company’s equity market cap will be roughly €10.8bn, with Gazit Globe (through its subsidiary Equity One) set to emerge as the new company’s largest shareholder. In Cannes for the MAPIC exhibition, Gazit Globe CEO Rachel Lavine said the merger will drive major synergies once a single management structure is implemented. In addition, where the two companies own shopping centers, greater operational efficiency would be produced along with greater control of those markets.
Gazit Globe is the major shareholder in Atrium, which owns and operates 1.1 million square meters of shopping centers in CEE. Roughly 3 percent of the company’s European revenues come from the Czech Republic, while 13 percent is produced in Poland. Lavine told CIJ that tough competition from new investors in CEE meant that the company’s focus in the region will be on improving and investing in its current portfolio rather than acquiring new assets.
