Westfield Corporation’s board has convinced its co-chief executive Peter Lowy to scrap plans to quit the company.
Mr Lowy now insists he’s staying with the international shopping centre giant indefinitely.
He had planned to step down this year from running the company with his brother Steven.
“The board has asked me to reconsider to my decision to step down from my executive position at the end of the year,” he said.
“I have agreed to do so and will remain co-CEO with Steven indefinitely.”
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Peter Lowy declined to say if a particular project had kept him with Westfield Corporation, which includes the company’s operations in the US, UK and Europe.
But he said the group had evolved since its Australian operations were hived off to form a separate company in June last year, called Scentre.
“We’ve been bogged down in getting the company on its feet,” he said.
“If you look at the issue, the prospects for the company are extremely exciting.”
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Westfield Corp’s flagship World Trade Centre shopping centre complex, in New York, is due to open this year, with more than 90 per cent of floor space leased.
It also has new developments underway in London, Los Angeles and Milan in Italy.
But Steven Lowy said the bankruptcy of the American RadioShack electronics retail chain this month had created some minor setbacks in its US shopping centres.
“That’s just a fact we’ve got to live with,” he said.
“We have a large book of committed but unleased shops at the moment – whilst it’s more than we would have liked, it’s certainly at the margin and we can cope with them.”
Meanwhile, Westfield has lifted income from its international shopping centres by more than five per cent during 2014 and has forecast a four per cent lift in funds from operations this year.
It also reported a 5.3 per cent increase in comparable income during the calendar year.
Westfield Corp expects to lift funds from operations four per cent to 37.7 cents per security during 2015 and pay shareholders a distribution of 25.1 cents.
Its share price fell 13 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $10.01 by 1041 AEDT.
