Irish Residential Properties REIT has appointed Hugh Scott-Barrett to succeed Declan Moylan as Chair of the company's board.
As previously announced, Declan Moylan will not seek re-election to the board at the company's Annual General Meeting which will be held in May.
The appointment comes into effect from the publication of the company's 2023 results scheduled for February 23.
The company, the country's largest private landlord, said Mr Scott-Barrett's appointment follows a rigorous succession process which took place during the second half of 2023 and which considered external and internal candidates.
He was appointed to the I-RES board as an independent director in September 2022 and he is currently a non-executive director and senior independent director of Balanced Commercial Property Trust Limited, a FTSE250 UK REIT listed on the London Stock Exchange.
He has experience at board level for over 20 years across real estate, asset management and banking and as Non-Executive Chairman at the UK specialist property REIT Capital & Regional until May 2020, after previously serving as CEO of the company before this from 2008-2017.
He was previously Chairman of GAM Holding and was also a member of ABN AMRO's managing board serving as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer and before that worked at SBC Warburg and Kleinwort Benson.
Hugh Scott-Barrett will also assist Declan Moylan in finding a new CEO for the company when CEO Margaret Sweeney retires.
Earlier this week, the company urged its shareholders to reject all resolutions at an upcoming EGM requestioned by activist shareholder Vision Capital and also said it will launch a strategic review of the company.
Last month Canadian-based Vision Capital had demanded an EGM be convened so that shareholders can vote on its proposal to replace five directors of its nine directors and also force the total liquidity of I-RES within two years.
Vision Capital, which owns 5% of I-RES, said it remains dissatisfied with the overall management of the company under the stewardship of the current board and executive management team.
It also noted the company's continued poor share price performance and its "persistent discount relative to the market value of its assets".
