Boston Properties Appoints New CEO

Recently, Boston Properties Inc (BXP - Analyst Report) – a real estate investment trust (REIT) – announced that Owen D. Thomas will take the post of the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective Apr 2, 2013. Current CEO Mortimer B. Zuckerman has decided to step down from his post.

In 1970, Zuckerman, in partnership with Ed Linde, co-founded Boston Properties. After the death of his partner and then CEO in 2010, Zuckerman took over the reins and has been serving the company as the CEO. During his tenure, the company achieved great heights, benefitting from his vast knowledge of the real estate industry.

Also, under his leadership, Boston Properties gained much success in strengthening its office portfolio in a few selected high-rent, high barrier-to-entry geographic markets such as Washington D.C. and San Francisco. Post transition, the 75-year-old Zuckerman will return to his original role and remain the Executive Chairman of Boston Properties.

Owen D. Thomas, 51, is currently serving Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. – the successor company to Lehman Brothers – as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Notably, Thomas watched over the disposition of former Lehman Brothers assets, which include the sale of Archstone Enterprise LP to Equity Residential (EQR - Analyst Report) and AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (AVB - Analyst Report). Prior to that, Thomas held several senior executives positions at Morgan Stanley (MS - Analyst Report) and served the company for more than 20 years.

With his vast knowledge of the real estate industry, Thomas can easily be regarded as a veteran of the sector. We expect the company’s successful track record to get an upside potential benefitting from his coherent and strategic proficiency.

In Jan 2013, Boston Properties reported strong fourth quarter 2012 results with FFO (funds from operations) per share of $1.27, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3 cents. The impressive results were consistent with its strong leasing activity and joint venture deals.

Boston Properties currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Note: Fund from operations, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income.