In the same week as the Melbourne Cup, shopping centre giant Scentre Group Ltd (ASX: SCG) delivered a trifecta of good news which helped drive its shares to a fresh all-time high of $3.66, although they have retreated marginally since.
Firstly, the company announced that it had raised another US$600 million in low-priced debt (10.25 year fixed rate debt instruments with a coupon of 3.50%), which will be used to repay $5 billion worth of bridge facilities established ahead of the global restructure of Westfield Group.
Meanwhile, the company will further reduce its gearing level after it agreed to sell a 49% stake in five shopping malls located in New Zealand to Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund GIC. The deal is worth NZ$1.04 billion (roughly $930 million) – which represents approximately a 4% premium to the book value of the centres – and will cut the company's gearing from 37.6% to 35.5%.
The shares also received a boost as Scentre Group updated the market on its third quarter operations. The company reported that its Australian stores had enjoyed 15 consecutive months of improvements in retail sales which is a fantastic result considering the volatile consumer and business confidence levels. You can read more about Scentre's third quarter results here.
Scentre Group has performed strongly since its inception into the ASX in June this year. In that time, its shares have jumped 15.3% which compares to a 2.3% rise from the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO).
