SIRIUS PROMOTES RÜDIGER SWOBODA TO COO
SIRIUS REAL ESTATE LIMITED
(Incorporated in Guernsey)
Company Number: 46442
JSE Share Code: SRE
LSE (GBP) Share Code: SRE
LSE (EUR) Share Code: ESRE
LEI: 213800NURUF5W8QSK566
ISIN Code: GG00B1W3VF54
30 March 2021
Sirius Real Estate Limited
("Sirius Real Estate", "Sirius" or the "Company")
SIRIUS PROMOTES RÜDIGER SWOBODA TO CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Newly created position fully aligns operations and sales functions within the business
Sirius Real Estate, the leading owner and operator of branded business parks providing conventional space and flexible workspace in Germany, announces the promotion of Rüdiger Swoboda to the newly created executive role of Chief Operating Officer.
As part of his extended remit, Rüdiger will continue to oversee customer sales and lettings activities, while also taking responsibility for business operations at an executive level, aligning two integral customer facing functions within the senior management team. This will include standardising operational processes across the business; managing Sirius' relationships with its tenants and customers; and ensuring that occupier demands are met from a facilities, service and asset management perspective. He will retain his position as Managing Director in parallel with the COO role and will continue to report to CEO Andrew Coombs while providing regular updates to the Board.
Rüdiger joined Sirius in 2010 as a Sales Director before being promoted to the position of Joint Managing Director of Sirius Facilities, the on the ground service provider responsible for the day to day operations, lettings and asset management initiatives across the Group's portfolio. In this role, he was primarily responsible for customer sales. Working alongside the marketing team, he can also be credited with transforming the Company's market-leading sales and lettings platform, which, over the past ten years, has seen an 80% increase in enquiries, with the average conversion from enquiries to deals rising from less than 3% to over 13% during the same time period. The platform has exhibited robust operational performance during the past 12-months, with strong levels of occupancy and rent collection despite Covid-19.
Prior to joining Sirius, Rüdiger worked as a Director of Sales for MICE AG, the full-service provider for sourcing and marketing MICE (meeting, incentive, congress and event solutions), and has a wealth of experience in leading national and international sales teams. He began his career in asset management in 1994 and holds both a Diploma and a dual (UK/ Germany) master's (MBA) degree in business administration.
This promotion follows the appointment of Kremena Wissel to Chief Marketing and Impact Officer earlier this year, and Rüdiger will continue to work closely with Kremena to support the delivery of the Company's ESG objectives across the business.
Commenting on the promotion, Andrew Coombs, CEO of Sirius Real Estate, said: "Over the last ten years at Sirius, Rüdiger has made a significant impact in shaping and standardising our customer sales platform, contributing substantially to our growth as a business. His deep expertise in the day to day operation of the business, alongside his intrinsic understanding of our tenant base and their evolving requirements, especially in a post-pandemic environment, make him an outstanding fit for the COO position. I look forward to continuing to work closely with him in this expanded role, supporting Sirius in our efforts to deliver long-term growth."
Rüdiger Swoboda added: "Sirius Real Estate is a well-established, high-growth company with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and, as someone with a passion for both people and the real estate industry, I am looking forward to furthering my contribution towards shaping our vision as COO. This new role enables a more coordinated approach to our on the ground customer services management, ensuring that Sirius maintains robust operational controls, as well as the right services, people and systems required to effectively grow the organisation. This will help provide the financial strength and efficiencies needed for a sustainable future for the Company."
- ENDS -
For further information:
Sirius Real Estate
Andrew Coombs, CEO / Alistair Marks, CFO
+49 (0) 30 285010110
FTI Consulting (Financial PR)
Richard Sunderland / Claire Turvey / James McEwan / Talia Jessener
+44 (0) 20 3727 1000
SiriusRealEstate@fticonsulting.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Sirius Real Estate
Sirius is a property company listed on the main market and premium segment of the London Stock Exchange and the main board of the JSE Limited. It is a leading operator of branded business parks providing conventional space and flexible workspace in Germany. The Company's purpose is to create and manage optimal workspaces that empower small and medium-sized businesses to grow, evolve and thrive. Sirius seeks to unlock the potential of its people, its properties, and the communities in which it operates, so that together we can create sustainable impact, and long-term financial and social value.
The Company's core strategy is the acquisition of business parks at attractive yields, the integration of these business parks into its network of sites under the Company's own name as well as offering a range of branded products within those sites, and the reconfiguration and upgrade of existing and vacant space to appeal to the local market, through intensive asset management and investment. The Company's strategy aims to deliver attractive returns for shareholders by increasing rental income and improving cost recoveries and capital values, as well as by enhancing those returns through financing its assets on favourable terms. Once sites are mature and net income and values have been optimised, the Company may take the opportunity to refinance the sites to release capital for investment in new sites or consider the disposal of sites in order to recycle equity into assets which present greater opportunity for the asset management skills of the Company's team.
Sirius also has a venture with clients represented by AXA IM Alts. Titanium was formed through the acquisition by AXA IM Alts, on behalf of its clients, from Sirius, of a 65% stake in five business parks across Germany. Sirius retained the remaining 35%. The venture seeks to grow primarily through the acquisition of larger stabilised business park assets and portfolios of assets with strong tenant profiles and occupancy. As well as its equity interest, Sirius acts as operator of the assets in the venture, on a fee basis. Sirius will continue to grow its wholly owned portfolio through acquisitions of more opportunistic assets, where it can capitalise on its asset management expertise to maximise utilisation of the space, grow occupancy and improve quality of the tenants. The strategies have been clearly defined so that the venture does not conflict with Sirius's existing business.
For more information, please visit: www.sirius-real-estate.com
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