The contest for the top job at GPT is understood to have narrowed to two contenders – former Mirvac chief investment officer Brett Draffen and Dexus executive Kevin George.
Initially, GPT’s chief financial officer Anastasia Clarke was considered the favourite. But it is understood she is out of the running, and Draffen was considered the top contender.
But now the focus is also on George. Dexus announced on May 1 the departure of George as executive general manager, office, effective July 3, to be replaced by Andy Collins.
During his a decade working at the office landlord, he developed a reputation as being a personable member of the company’s executive team and is known to have aspirations to take on a chief executive position.
Prior to his time at Dexus, he worked for more than 26 years at real estate agency JLL, holding the position of international director and head of office leasing Australia.
Executives with office leasing sales experience will no doubt be well received in the ranks of office landlords right now.
Management teams appear to be losing the battle of getting staff back to work full time in the office since the pandemic, creating large vacancy rates in offices around the world.
GPT confirmed speculation in the market on February 10 when it said chief executive Bob Johnston would be retiring in December.
Draffen recently departed Mirvac after 14 years, working as chief investment officer from 2014 where he was responsible for portfolio construction, strategy, capital allocation and investment decisions across Mirvac’s sprawling $15bn real estate and development activities.
He was thought to be in the running to head Mirvac after the departure of Susan Lloyd Hurwitz, but the job was awarded to Mirvac’s head of commercial property, Campbell Hanan, who was also believed to have been approached for the GPT role.
Dexus’s chief investment officer Ross Du Vernet and the company’s executive general manager of funds management, Deborah Coakley, are believed to be top candidates to replace Darren Steinberg when he steps down as chief executive.
The $8bn GPT is one of Australia’s major owners, managers and developers of retail, office and industrial assets, with some of the country’s most prominent towers and shopping malls including Westfield Penrith, Melbourne Central, Melbourne’s 150 Collins St, One One One Eagle St in Brisbane and the Citigroup Centre at Sydney’s 2 Park St.
GPT counts UniSuper as its largest investor with 16.3 per cent, followed by BlackRock with 10.25 per cent, according to Bloomberg data.
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