Excel Trust (the "Company") announced its appointment of Luke J.
Petherbridge as Chief Executive Officer and President.
Mr. Petherbridge is an experienced retail real estate executive and
currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of DDR
Corp. (NYSE:DDR) a power center REIT with 352 value-oriented shopping
centers, representing 113 million square feet in 37 states and Puerto
Rico under management. At DDR Corp., Mr. Petherbridge has overseen the
execution of $5 billion of real estate transactions, raised over $9
billion of long-term capital and supported various strategic initiatives.
Excel Trust was acquired by a fund managed by Blackstone Real Estate
(“Blackstone”) in 2015. Through additional acquisitions, the Company’s
leased and managed portfolio will have more than doubled to include over
80 retail assets covering 19 million square feet. The portfolio consists
of high quality open-air shopping centers with concentrations in
California, Texas, New York and Florida.
Nadeem Meghji, Co-head of US Acquisitions for Blackstone Real Estate
said, “Our goal is to continue to scale our investment in the open-air
retail space and for Excel Trust to be a premier retail owner and
operator in the US. We believe Luke is incredibly talented and his prior
experience makes him well qualified to lead the Company as we accelerate
our growth in the sector. We have worked successfully with Luke on
multiple transactions over the past five years, and it’s with great
pleasure that we welcome him to the team.”
Regarding his new role, Mr. Petherbridge said “I am excited about the
opportunity to lead Excel Trust and look forward to working with the
team, retailers, and ownership to optimize portfolio operations and
continue to grow the Company. I believe the team, defined strategy and
support of Blackstone will allow us to become an industry leader and
create significant value. Our goal is to build a best-in-class platform
of dominant retail assets which will continue to attract tenants and
their customers in a dynamic retail environment.”
About Excel Trust:
Excel Trust is a retail focused real estate investment trust (REIT) that
owns, manages and leases primarily open-air, power and grocery anchored
shopping centers.
About Blackstone:
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s
real estate business was founded in 1991 and has approximately $101
billion in investor capital under management. Blackstone’s real estate
portfolio includes hotel, office, retail, industrial and residential
properties in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Major holdings
include Hilton Worldwide, Invitation Homes (single family homes),
Logicor (pan-European logistics), SCP (Chinese shopping malls) and prime
office buildings in the world’s major cities. Blackstone Real Estate
also operates one of the leading real estate finance platforms,
including management of the publicly traded Blackstone Mortgage Trust.
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to
create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors,
the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do
this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help
companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with $344
billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused
on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment
grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis.
Further information is available at www.blackstone.com.
Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
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