Chaim Katzman, the founder and chairman of the Israel-based Gazit Globe, will join the board of listed Finnish shopping mall group Citycon in which Gazit holds a 48% stake. Citycon's Chief Executive Petri Olkinuora declined to comment on the reason for the decision but said that the proposal was put forward by Citycon's nomination committee, after which the board decided to call for an extraordinary shareholder meeting to decide on the nomination.
Chaim Katzman, the founder and chairman of the Israel-based Gazit Globe, will join the board of listed Finnish shopping mall group Citycon in which Gazit holds a 48% stake. Citycon's Chief Executive Petri Olkinuora declined to comment on the reason for the decision but said that the proposal was put forward by Citycon's nomination committee, after which the board decided to call for an extraordinary shareholder meeting to decide on the nomination.
As part of the move, Citycon board members will increase from nine to 10.
Chaim Katzman is also the chairman of Equity One, First Capital Realty and CEE retail property developer Atrium European Real Estate, where Gazit-Globe controls 49.9% together with Citigroup.
Citycon posted a profit of EUR 17 mln in the first quarter of 2010, up from a loss of EUR 18 mln a year before. Turnover increased by 7.9 % to EUR 49.5 mln in the first three months of 2010, a slight improvement compared to 2009 (EUR 46 mln), due to growth in gross leasable area and to the development of retail properties. The company's financial position remained good during the period, with total available liquidity of EUR 213 mln, including unutilised committed debt facilities amounting to EUR 164 mln and EUR 49 mln in cash.