PARIS – Paris and Amsterdam-based shopping center giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) said on Monday that it has acquired a 15 percent stake in Paris’s central Westfield Forum shopping center as part of its ongoing efforts to rationalize its assets and reduce its debt I sold Halles.

The shares were sold for 235 million euros to CDC Investissementimmobilienr, a subsidiary of French institutional investor Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, the company said in a statement.

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The massive 835,300 square meter underground Forum des Halles is the flagship shopping center in central Paris. With 150,000 visitors daily, it is the most visited shopping center in France.

“This transaction represents an important milestone in the flagship shopping center investment market and presents one of the most attractive and best-performing retail properties in the European market,” said URW.

The center will now be operated as a joint venture, with URW controlling a 50 percent stake, along with AXA Investment Managers Alternatives with 35 percent and CDC with 15 percent.

URW will continue to manage the center, which is home to book and electronics retailer Fnac and French retailer Monoprix, as well as fashion stores such as H&M, Zara and Mango.

Forum des Halles’ joint venture structure will allow URW to maintain control of the center while generating property management fees. As part of a restructuring plan first launched in 2020, the company aims to generate rent-free annual sales of 150 million by the end of 2025.

The sale is the latest step in the company’s €9 billion debt relief and debt reduction plan. Under this plan, the mall giant began selling its underperforming and second-tier U.S. properties in 2022, such as Westfield Mission Valley and Westfield North County in Southern California and Westfield Brandon in Florida.

Since the beginning of 2024, URW has sold real estate worth 1.5 billion euros, which was used to reduce debt. “The group continues to have active discussions about further disposals as part of its debt reduction plan,” the company added.

URW also launched a CO2 reduction plan in 2023 to reduce its emissions by 90 percent by 2050 compared to the 2015 base year.

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