Great Portland Estates has appointed former Slaughter and May partner Elizabeth Holden as a non-executive director.
A mergers and acquisitions, corporate advisory and governance specialist, Holden will replace Philip Rose when she takes up the new role from 3 September.
Rose, who has been at GPE for six years, will step down at the company’s AGM today.
Speaking at the AGM, chairman Martin Scicluna, will point to the company’s 12% NAV rise as evidence of “another excellent year”.
GPE’s like-for-like valuation grew 9.2% in the year to 31 March, outperforming the IPD central London benchmark of 7.5%.
Scicluna will say: “Despite the continued turbulence in the UK and eurozone economies, conditions in London’s property markets, particularly the West End, remain favourable.
“While the supply of new space is low given the scarcity of development finance, tenant demand is trending at the long-run average, with some pockets of strong interest from the likes of the TMT sector.
“Absent a material economic setback, we expect this balance to move further in landlords’ favour over the next few years, supporting our expectations for rental growth.”
jack.sidders@estatesgazette.com
