intu’s Chairman, John Strachan, said: “David has been with the Group since 1985, and Chief Executive since 2001, a period which has included transformative events such as the demerger of Capital & Counties in 2010, the intu Trafford Centre transaction in 2011 and the rebranding as intu in 2013. He has played a major role in intu becoming the UK’s leading owner, developer and manager of large scale regional shopping centres with some £10 billion of assets.

Under the proposed Hammerson merger, David was expecting to stand down upon the transaction completing. That transaction is no longer proceeding, and the Board is enormously grateful to David for agreeing to remain in post for a longer period than he had envisaged, giving the Board sufficient time to search for a suitable successor.

I would like also to extend my personal gratitude for the substantial contribution David has made to this business over many years.”

intu will provide further detail on timing once a successor has been identified.