S&P affirms Westfield

Standard & Poor's said it affirmed the A- long-term and A-2 short-term ratings on Westfield Group and removed them from CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on Nov. 3.

The outlook is stable.

The affirmation follows the assessment of Westfield's proposed demerger of about half of its Australian and New Zealand shopping centre portfolio, according to the agency.

"In our view, the proposed demerger moderately weakens Westfield's strong business risk profile, by reweighting the group's earnings and asset base toward its U.S. and U.K. portfolios, and to the group's funds management and construction and development operations," S&P analyst Paul Draffin said in a statement.

"Nonetheless, we consider that Westfield will remain one of the largest, highest-quality and most geographically diversified global retail property groups."

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