SAN DIEGO & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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.