DDR Corp—a public retail REIT with a portfolio of 349 properties—terminated David Oakes, its CEO of two years, today and has replaced him with DCT Industrial Trust chairman Thomas August effective immediately.
The company released a statement saying the termination had nothing to do with financials, operating results or disagreements regarding the company's reporting practices. “The suddenness of Oakes’ departure, the lack of severance and the company’s lack of willingness to speak on it suggests to us it was likely personal-conduct related,” Mizuho Securities USA Inc analyst Haendel St. Juste says.
Oakes had been at DDR since 2007 and an SEC filing says he would receive a $2.4M severance if ever terminated, Bloomberg reports. DDR stocks rose 1.4% to $18.94 after the statement, and Mizuho Securities downgraded the stock from neutral to underperform. [Bloomberg]
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