Braehead shopping centre owner intu has named Matthew Roberts as its new chief executive.
The chief financial officer succeeds David Fischel who is standing down from the board and leaving intu on 26 April.
Roberts has been CFO of intu, the largest owner and manager of prime shopping centres in the UK, since May 2010. Braehead in Renfrewshire is part of a £9 billion retail portfolio which includes the Metro Centre in Newcastle and the Trafford Centre in Manchester.
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“ 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," said chairman John Strachan.
In February, intu admitted it may have to sell assets to raise cash after an eight per cent collapse in the value of its properties led to a £1.17 billion loss for the last year.
The company said Roberts would deliver a strategy which includes plans to reduce intu's debt to assets ratio to below 50 per cent "through disposals, part-disposals and introducing partners to assets".
It added: "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.’’
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Previously, Roberts was chief financial officer of Gala Coral from 2004 to 2008, leading the acquisition of Coral, 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.
Fischel 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.
