Arabian Centres Company, the largest owner, developer and operator of lifestyle shopping centers in Saudi Arabia, announces the appointment of Olivier Nougarou as the company's new CEO. The appointment of Nougarou is a part of a wider strategic decision by the company to consolidate its leadership position as the leading lifestyle center platform in Saudi Arabia through maximizing returns from its existing portfolio, maintaining and strengthening tenant relationships, and enhancing visitor experience to strengthen brand awareness. Nougarou brings more than 15 years of senior executive experience in retail property. He was previously CEO for Germany at Unibail-Rodamco Group, a European real estate company. During his time with the company, he was deeply involved in the merger between Unibail and Rodamco and was instrumental in the successful integration of the German organization into the group while establishing and developing Unibail-Rodamco's German business. He later worked as managing director, Russia, for Morgan Stanley Real Estate. Commenting on the appointment, Fawaz Alhokair, chairman of Arabian Centres, said: "Olivier is a proven leader who has broad experience in the retail property market and has demonstrated success driving operational excellence. We have built a strong foundation over the last 17 years and we want to ensure our competitive advantage remains in place as we prepare to launch 4 new malls this year with 5 more in the pipeline. Olivier will sharpen our strategic vision and direction and improve overall execution throughout the organization, especially around enhancing visitor experience and embracing digital transformation." Arabian Centres opened its first mall in 2002 and has since grown to be the largest owner, developer and operator of shopping malls in Saudi Arabia. Arabian Centres has 19 malls in operation, a further 4 malls due to open in 2019 and 5 projects in the pipeline. The Company has approximately 1.1 million square meters of gross leasable area, an occupancy rate of approximately 93% and receives annual footfall of over 100 million across all its malls. Nougarou added, "Arabian Centres is the leading owner, developer, and operator of lifestyle centers in KSA, with a portfolio of assets across all key Saudi cities. It has a clear and focused growth strategy that aims at continuously enhancing the value proposition to tenants and visitors and delivering value for shareholders. Our strategy will focus on unlocking value from the standing portfolio, enhancing the lifestyle and brand offering, and maintain our leadership through a focused and superior pipeline." The retail sector in Saudi Arabia is one of the largest in the Middle East showing around SR386 billion in store-based retail sales in 2018, according to Euromonitor International. The sector accounted for 10% of non-oil GDP in Q3 2018 based on data from the General Authority for Statistics. The industry is poised for future growth as a result of economic liberalization and international investment.
