Centro seeks clean break with the past with name change to Federation Centres

Shopping centre owner and manager Centro Retail Australia will seek shareholder approval to change its name to Federation Centres.

An extraordinary general meeting will be held on January 22 and should the new name be approved, it will be progressively incorporated into the branding of its shopping centres.

The new name features a cone-shaped red ribbon as its logo.

“While the creation of a dynamic new brand is a significant step, pivotal to the new name is the use of the ribbon symbol. The ribbon signifies the delivery of a great centre experience and can be used in many creative ways,” says Centro managing director and CEO, Steven Sewell.

The new name follows 12 months after Centro was successfully restructured as Centro Retail Australia with more than 100 hedge funds taking shares in the company as part of a $2.9 billion debt-for-equity swap that prevented the company going into administration.

According to Centro chairman Bob Edgar changing the name of Centro Retail Limited to Federation Limited “marks our many achievements over the past 12 months and our commitment to create long term value for securityholders”.

“Securityholders can have confidence in what Federation Centres stands for and how we go about managing centres for the benefit of all stakeholders.

“The name itself has been selected to reflect our business. A federation respects the individuality of its parts but also has the strength of the wider group. That is what we are - a group of strategically sited individual centres that reflect the local communities to which we provide services - while benefiting from the strength of the parent organisation,” he says.