Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP was counsel to Centro Retail, Australia’s largest manager of retail property investment syndicates, in negotiations to sell its portfolio of 588 U.S. shopping centers and its U.S. Service Business to BRE Retail Holdings, Inc., an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI, L.P. The sale is expected to close in mid-2011 and is part of Centro’s proposed restructuring of its capital structure. Blackstone will acquire the Centro’s U.S. business for an enterprise value of approximately $9.4 billion, with total equity proceeds for Centro, Centro Retail Trust, and its other managed funds totaling $1.38 billion. Centro’s proposed restructuring will result in a new entity with a leading Australian portfolio of retail centers.

The Weil team included Corporate partners J. Philip Rosen and Malcolm Landau; Business Finance & Restructuring partners Gary Holtzer and Ronit Berkovich; Corporate associates Yossie Horwitz, Jeffrey Friedman, Noam Haberman, and Steven Stein; and Business Finance & Restructuring associate Saima Majid.