Atrium European Real Estate has appointed Josip Kardun as chief operating officer with effect from 14 February 2014.

Atrium European Real Estate has appointed Josip Kardun as chief operating officer with effect from 14 February 2014.

Additionally, Kardun will act as deputy chief executive officer and will join Atrium’s group executive management team, reporting directly to CEO Rachel Lavine.

The appointment follows the departure of Nils-Christian Hakert, chief operating officer, who will leave the Group to pursue other business interests effective 31 March 2014.

Kardun sits on the executive board of ICSC Europe and joins Atrium from European retail property specialists ECE Projektmanagement, where he has worked for seven years in a number of senior positions, most recently as its chief investment officer and head of mergers & acquisitions and transaction management.

Atrium is a real estate company focussed on shopping centre investment, management and development in Central and Eastern Europe. As at 30 September 2013 the group owned 156 shopping centres, with a market value of €2.37 bn, diversified across seven countries with a total gross lettable area of 1.278 million m2. In 2012, Atrium produced a gross rental income of €193.5 mln.