Capital & Regional chief executive Martin Barber has stepped down from the company he co-founded 30 years ago. Amid rumours of a boardroom rift after the share price slumped 70 per cent in just under a year, the company has brought in Hugh Scott-Barrett as Barber’s replacement.
Scott-Barrett was a member of the management board of ABN AMRO from 2000 to 2007, most recently as chief financial officer.
Capital & Regional is the highest-profile victim of the credit crunch so far. The value of units in its Mall shopping centre fund fell 17 per cent during 2007, and have lost another 4.5 per cent since then. And the Junction retail park fund fared even worse, with a 34.3 per cent collapse in the unit price last year.
The company’s use of gearing has the effect of magnifying performance, both on the upside when times are good but also on the downside. Although it denies that the downturn in values has pushed it close to breaching a loan-to-value clause on the mall fund, Capital & Regional has begun a process of asset disposals, selling an 80 per cent stake in its trade counter portfolio earlier this year.
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