Australia's Westfield shopping centre corporation has agreed to be sold to French property group Unibail-Rodamco for $24.7bn. There are 35 Westfield centres in the UK and the US while Unibail-Rodamco has 71 sites in Europe. The takeover will result in the "progressive roll-out of the Westfield brand", according to management. The resulting company will operate 104 shopping centres across 13 countries. The two companies have little overlap, for example with Westfield operating the two large centres in London and Unibail Les Quatre Temps and Forum des Halles in Paris. Shopping centres have been hard hit by the rise of online retail, in particular in the US where Macy's and JC Penney have been closing stores. But Westfield, has been increasing the "experiential" element in its centres organising concerts, for example. Unibail is betting on concentration, differentiation and innovation, and will rebrand its flagship malls as Westfield.

The current deal follows Hammerson's £3.4bn offer for smaller rival Intu; and Toronto-based Brookfield's $15bn attempt to buy GCP, one of the large US operators.