Intu has appointed Matthew Roberts as its new chief executive, replacing David Fischel in the job.
Roberts has been chief financial officer of intu since 2010. In his new role, he will oversee the retail landlord’s strategy to reduce the debt to assets ratio to below 50% through disposals and part-disposals.
Before he joined intu, he was chief financial officer of Gala Coral from 2004 to 2008, leading the acquisition of Coral which resulted in the business becoming the UK’s largest private equity owned company at the time.
He was also previously finance director at Debenhams, managing the company’s IPO in 1998 and sale in 2003, and also held senior roles at Topshop/Topman and Burton Group.
Fischel has worked at intu for 34 years, and has led the business since 2001. He will step down from the board and leave the REIT on 26 April.
He had initially planned to retire when intu’s proposed £3.4bn merger with rival REIT Hammerson completed, but has remained at the REIT since the deal collapsed last April.
The board said back in July that it was “enormously grateful to David for agreeing to remain in post for a longer period than he had envisaged”.
John Strachan, chairman of intu, said: “David’s substantial contribution to intu’s affairs over many years has been outstanding and he will be greatly missed by the board and all of intu’s staff.
“I would like to extend my personal gratitude to David for continuing to steer the group for a longer period than was originally intended until we had completed our succession process. David will leave intu with our very best wishes.
“Matthew has been an exceptional CFO at intu. This, combined with his extensive and relevant experience, including his proven expertise in leading strategic transformation projects, means he is absolutely the right person to lead this business going forward.”
A formal process to recruit a new chief financial officer will begin imminently, which will include external and internal candidates. In the meantime, the position will be filled on a temporary basis by intu’s finance team under Roberts’ supervision.
To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette
