GE Commercial Finance Real Estate France announces the integration of GE Real Estate France and Sophia's Teams
Paris, 14 February 2005 : GE Commercial Finance Real Estate announces the integration of GE Real Estate France (GEREF) and Sophia’s teams. GEREF and Sophia are now merged into a single entity and will operate under the name of “GE Commercial Finance Real Estate France”. François Trausch is appointed President of GE Commercial Finance Real Estate France.
This new organisation follows the acquisition of Sophia by GE in February 2004 and subsequent delisting of Sophia shares in January 2005, Sophia being 100% held by GE.
Operational responsibilities in the new entity will be as follows:
- Cécile de Guillebon will continue to be in charge of new acquisitions. Patrick Menuet will join this team.
- Thierry Riba will be in charge of risk management for new acquisitions.
- Daniel Chevillon will head a new department, “Risk asset management”, which will principally focus on managing risk for existing holdings (€5.5 billion). Gérard du Manoir joins this mdepartment.
- Eric Allard will be responsible for Asset Management for both portfolios. This department is made up of
- two asset managers teams, led respectively by Arthur d’Hauteville and Jean-Jacques Maréchal;the development/promotion team, led by Nicole Miot and the special business team led by Jean-Louis Torres; and a sales team which reports directly to Eric Allard.
- Christian Bertrand will head the newly created Operations & Services department which regroups the following activities: Property Management, Technical, Real Estate accounting, Health & Security.
- Marc Henrion will be in charge of managing GE’s holding in Bail Investissement and Marielle Prioult-Seegmuller will manage GE’s holding in CGW (France Telecom portfolio).
Commenting on François Trausch’s appointment, Olivier Piani, President of GE Commercial Finance Real Estate Europe, said:
"The appointment of Francois Trausch at the head of Sophia is the logical conclusion to the integration of the two organizations and demonstrates GE’s intention to build a leading real-estate player in France."
François Trausch, President of GE Commercial Finance Real Estate France, said:
"We are delighted by the fusion of both teams in to a single entity, "GE Commercial Finance Real Estate France", which combines GEREF’s and Sophia’s real-estate and financial expertise. This reorganisation strengthens our presence and positions us as leader in real-estate investment and management in France with strong growth objectives."
