Controlled by Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor Frank Lowy and his three sons, Westfield (worth $A1.4 billion, with its headquarters in Sydney) is an immigrant's success story.
Lowy emigrated from Hungary to Israel in 1946, fleeing the Nazis and his home town of Filakovo. Lowy's father, Hugo, perished in Auschwitz. His
brother Alex was one of only eight survivors of Mauthausen in Austria and walked 500km to Budapest to tell of the horrors he had suffered.
In 1952, Frank Lowy left Israel for Australia, where he joined another Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor, John Sanders (formerly Schwartz). They founded Westfield - "west" a reference to Sydney's western suburbs where they started their development business, "field" reflecting that they were turning paddocks into residential subdivisions.
The Lowy story is told in the newly published Frank Lowy, Pushing the Limits by Jill Margo (HarperCollins, $49.95).
Westfield Trust is Australia's largest property stock, while Westfield Holdings, which manages Westfield Trust, is the world's fourth-largest retail-mall manager and developer.
This week Westfield successfully swallowed one of New Zealand's top-40 companies, shopping mall owner St Lukes Group, even though small shareholders made clear their disapproval.
The move sees St Lukes wiped off the stock exchange and ownership of 11 prime shopping malls move across the Tasman in a $570 million deal that creates the single largest Australasian property company.
Here, Westfield owns the Downtown Shopping Centre in Auckland's CBD, Glenfield Mall, Manukau Shopping Centre, The Plaza in Pakuranga, St Lukes, Shore City Galleria in Takapuna and WestCity Shopping Centre in Henderson.
In Wellington it owns the Johnsonville Shopping Centre and Queensgate in Lower Hutt. It also owns the Riccarton Mall in Christchurch and Chartwell Square in Hamilton. Newmarket makes it a clear dozen.
