Hammerson has appointed Rita-Rose Gagné as its new chief executive and executive director.

She was most recently president of growth markets at the global real estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge, with responsibility for $7.6 billion of assets across Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Gagné joined Ivanhoé Cambridge in 2006 and held a variety of roles, from senior vice president of legal affairs and general counsel at Société Immobilière Trans-Québec to executive vice president of global strategy, portfolio management and investment funds at Ivanhoé.

During her career, she has worked in property markets across the world, including the UK, France and Germany, and her expertise spans across various asset classes and mixed-use assets, including residential, retail, office and logistics.

It is anticipated that she will take up her new role with Hammerson before the end of the year. David Atkins will continue to serve as chief executive until then.

Atkins announced his intention to step down in May, as the shopping centre owner faced cashflow problems stemming from Coronavirus shop closures.

Board chair Robert Noel said: “She has an excellent track record in international real estate investment, building high-quality teams, developing strategic partnerships, execution and delivering results."

Gagné added: “The retail and real estate sectors are going through a period of unprecedented change which makes this a very exciting time to be joining the business.

"I look forward to working with Hammerson’s experienced team and all its stakeholders to both navigate through the challenges but also seek out the opportunities to create value moving forward.”

Her gross annual salary will be £672,000 and her pension allowance will be 10 per cent of base salary. Upon joining, she will receive a Restricted Share Scheme award of 150 per cent of salary, along with a gross relocation allowance of £400,000.

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