intu, the largest owner and manager of prime shopping centres in the UK, has announced the appointment of Matthew Roberts as Chief Executive with effect from Monday 29 April 2019.
Roberts will succeed David Fischel who will be standing down from the Board and leaving intu on Friday 26 April 2019.
The Board has appointed Roberts following a rigorous search process which included a number of first-class internal and external candidates, the company said. Having been Chief Financial Officer of intu since May 2010, Roberts has excellent real estate and retail experience and detailed knowledge of intu’s affairs, the company added.
In a statement it said: “He is therefore well placed to drive intu’s winning destinations strategy which includes adapting fast to the changing retail environment, delivering strong underlying individual centre performance and making smart use of capital, including plans to reduce intu’s debt to assets ratio to below 50 per cent through disposals, part-disposals and introducing partners to assets. Matthew has a strong track record at intu of successfully recycling capital, with over £1 billion of assets having been sold since he joined intu.”
Prior to joining intu, Roberts was CFO 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. Prior to this, he was Finance Director of Debenhams, managing the company’s successful IPO in 1998 and sale in 2003, and also held senior roles at Top Shop/Top Man and The Burton Group.
David has been with the Group since 1985, and Chief Executive since 2001, a period which has included transformative events such as the demerger of Capital & Counties in 2010, the intu Trafford Centre transaction in 2011 and the rebranding as intu in 2013. He has played a major role in intu becoming the UK’s leading owner, developer and manager of large scale regional shopping centres with £9 billion of assets.
RPA Perspective 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 commence imminently which will include external and internal candidates. In the meantime, the position will be filled on a temporary basis from intu’s Finance team under Matthew’s supervision.
