Immofinanz CEO to leave after paving way for restructuring

Immofinanz has said CEO Thomas Kleibl is leaving the listed Austrian real estate group on 28 February having re-established confidence in the firm among its banks and set it on course for recovery.

In a statement, Kleibl said his role at Immofinanz had been to analyse the complex problems the company faced and lay the foundations for restructuring. 'I succeeded in the shortest amount of time, primarily due to the confidence of the banks in my credibility. Now that I have established the necessary framework for a successful restructuring, I am handing implementation over to my colleagues on the executive board and wish the Immofinanz much success.'

Kleibl, an acknowledged financial expert, took over as CEO on 13 October 2008, replacing Karl Petrikovics who resigned days earlier. Petrikovics had led Immofinanz and Immoeast since their formation in 1990 and 1998. But his era came to an end when the group was rocked by the deterioration of the real estate market, concerns about the group's liquidity and questions about a missing EUR 500 mln payment. The question of the payment was resolved during Kleibl's tenure.

Immofinanz recorded a pre-tax loss of EUR 191 mln in the quarter ending 31 July 2008 from a profit of EUR 183 mln in the same period last year. The loss was largely due to a hefty devaluation of Immoeast's portfolio. To calm investors, Immoeast announced it was scrapping its EUR 2 bn development pipeline in Eastern Europe.