Renta Corporacion appoints César Bardají as new CEO
Renta Corporacion appoints César Bardají as new CEO
Following a report from the Appointments and Remuneration Committee, the Board of Directors has today decided to propose the appointment of César Bardají as CEO to succeed Josep-Maria Farré. This appointment is subject to the approval by the General Shareholders’ Meeting of Mr Bardají as a Company Director.
This is the start of a new phase for Mr Bardají as part of a well-established company, which has just closed another fiscal year with excellent results, which leads the Spanish real estate sector with a new business model, and which is poised to become one of the benchmark real estate companies in Europe, with an important role in the international market.
Renta Corporación has a high regard for the management skills Mr Bardají has demonstrated throughout his career, especially during the last seven years as Chairman and Managing Director of Grupo Winterthur in Spain, a leading European insurance company.
Mr Bardají’s professional development and management capabilities will provide an important contribution to Renta Corporación’s strong growth process and for achieving the objectives laid out in the Company’s current Strategic Plan.
The appointment of Mr Bardají was brought about by the decision made by the current CEO, Josep-Maria Ferré, to step down and pursue new business opportunities, once the transition with César Bardají has been completed. Farré thus brings to an end the seven years of successful leadership at Renta Corporación, a company which has a ambitious growth and expansion plan based on what the company declares has been a “brilliant FY2006″.
The company holds a considerable stock of properties and investment rights, which will contribute to its results for the 2007-2009 period. In this context, Renta Corporación announced several weeks ago an upward revision of the growth goals established in the Strategic Plan, forecasting a net profit for 2006 of €45 million, which represents growth of about 40% compared with the previous year and setting the net profit goal for 2008 at €75 million.
In a statement Mr. Farré said, “I am proud to have had the opportunity to form part of this extraordinary company. Our business model is unique, we are experiencing strong and sustained growth and our planned international expansion is meeting with very positive results. In this context, our recent launch as a publicly listed company has been key to maintaining strong growth rates”. He added: “Since I first joined the Renta Corporación team we have achieved important goals in developing the business, and I believe that this is the right moment for me to hand over the baton, an excellent opportunity to consolidate and expand the company’s horizons. I look forward to new business projects, but they will be not be in the same field as the Group.”
Josep-Maria Farré has informed the Renta Corporación Board that he will submit his formal resignation as soon as the FY2006 accounts are prepared, on the occasion of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders.
Mr Farré will stay involved with the company during the next few months to ensure a smooth transition for the incoming CEO and working closely with land transformation projects as well as the company’s international operations.
César Bardají
César Bardají holds a degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Barcelona and an MBA from the IESE Business School. His professional career in international corporations such as Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and Winterthur has given him great management experience. He has a wide-ranging understanding of the international marketplace and a proven track record with large companies. From among his achievements, worthy of special mention is his performance as Chief Executive of Grupo Winterthur España, where he has served as Chairman and Managing Director from 2001 until early this year. Mr. Bardají led the transformation of this insurance provider with a workforce of 1,750 and a turnover of over €16 billion and managed its merge with Axa. Through his position in Winterthur, he has also been a member of the executive committee of UNESPA, a member of the management board of UCEAC (a Catalan insurance association), a member of the board of CEOE and Chairman of Webinsurance Partners (owned by Winterthur). He currently also serves as an Independent Director of various companies such as IDIADA Automotive Technology and Grupo Leche Pascual.
Renta Corporación
Renta Corporación was founded in 1991 and is dedicated to the purchase, refurbishing and sale of real estate properties. Since 2000 it has been one of the fastest growing companies in the industry and is one of Spain’s leading real estate companies. It operates in Spain, with offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Málaga and Palma de Mallorca, in France with an office in Paris, in the UK with an office in London and, since 2006, in Germany as well.
Renta Corporación has been listed on the stock market (continuous market) since 5 April and was the first company to go public in 2006. In stock market terms, it should be noted that the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Advisory Committee had selected Renta Corporación for inclusion in the Index, considered to be one of the most prestigious benchmarks by institutional investors.
Barcelona, 25 january 2007
