Macerich Continues to Make Progress on Reducing Leverage to Concentrate on Its Best Assets

Macerich has successfully repositioned the company over the past decade as a true owner and operator of Class A regional malls. Over the past 20 years, the company has sold over $5 billion in mostly lower-quality assets and recycled the capital into acquiring new Class A malls, with over $1 billion of those sales coming in the past two years as management looks to reduce company leverage. As a result, the company's portfolio should produce higher tenant sales productivity, occupancy levels, and rent, and therefore is much better-positioned to face the economic headwinds of e-commerce. We expect Macerich to continue improving its portfolio through redevelopment, opportunistic acquisitions, and asset sales, which should deliver strong earnings growth for Macerich over time.