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Unibail May See CEO, CFO Step Down In Coming Days, JDD Reports

Unibail May See CEO, CFO Step Down In Coming Days, JDD Reports

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield could see its chief executive officer leave after a dramatic shift in the company’s governance over the last few weeks, French weekly newspaper Le Journal Du Dimanche said on Sunday.

The departures of CEO Christophe Cuvillier and Chief Financial Officer Jaap L. Tonckens are expected to be officially acknowledged in the coming days, JDD reported, without saying how it got the information.

Jean-Marie Tritant, a 23-year veteran of the company and president of URW U.S., is believed to have the most complete profile to take over as CEO, JDD said, citing unidentified people. Calls by Bloomberg to a spokesperson and investor relations at Unibail weren’t immediately answered.

The potential departures would mark the end of a dramatic battle that saw an activist group including former Unibail chairman Leon Bressler and French technology billionaire Xavier Niel counter Cuvillier’s plan to turn around the Franco-Dutch shopping center landlord. The plan, a 3.5 billion-euro ($4.1 billion) share sale that the duo believed would damage existing investors, was rejected by shareholders on Tuesday.

The battle between Cuvillier and the activist group culminated with the appointment of Bressler as chairman of the supervisory board on Friday to replace Colin Dyer. Four other directors also resigned.

Like other mall owners, Unibail was severely-hit when economies around the world were shuttered to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The group saw its net rental income fall by by an annual 17% to 1.53 billion euros in the nine months through September.

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