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IVANHOE’S TREMBLAY TAPPED FOR CHAIRMANSHIP

THE VETERAN CANADIAN DEVELOPER WOULD OVERSEE ICSC FOR THE 2007-2008 TERM

By Edmund Mander

ICSC has nominated René Tremblay, president and CEO of Canada’s Ivanhoe Cambridge, one of North America’s most global retail development firms, to be its next chairman. If, as expected, the ICSC Board of Trustees confirms his selection at the Spring Convention, he will become the organization’s 48th chairman. He will also be one of the first chief executives of a full-fledged international company to head ICSC. Ivanhoe Cambridge is steadily expanding in Asia, Europe and Latin America, to the point that half its assets will be outside Canada some time in 2008, Tremblay predicts. Already some 30 percent of its portfolio lies overseas.

“It is fitting that René should become chairman at this time of international growth for ICSC, because Ivanhoe Cambridge, too, recognizes the value of a global presence,” said Michael P. Kercheval, president and CEO of ICSC. “Both organizations truly reflect the global nature of our age.”

Tremblay, 52, has headed Ivanhoe Cambridge, which now ranks itself as North America’s fifth-largest regional shopping center development and management firm, since 2001, when it was formed through the merger of Ivanhoe Inc. and Cambridge Shopping Centres Ltd. Before that, he had been Ivanhoe’s president and COO.

Tremblay joined ICSC in 1980, and his rise as an active leader within the organization (he is a past trustee and a former vice president of the Canadian Division) has mirrored his career. Tremblay, a native of Saint-Félicien, in the Lac Saint-Jean region of Québec, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Université Laval, Québec City, in December 1975. He worked for several companies, including Simpson-Sears, Campeau Corp., and Westcliff Group. His career then shifted into the mall sector when he joined SITQ Immobilier where, from 1985 to 1993, he held shopping center leasing, management and development positions. He moved on to Cadim International for two years, serving as senior vice president of investments.

Tremblay says both his career and Ivanhoe’s growth owe much to ICSC, because the organization fosters open exchange of experience and ideas among competitors.

“This is something I’ve never seen and has never been replicated by any industry that I know of,” Tremblay said. Joint ventures Ivanhoe has forged with Ancar in Brazil, General Growth Properties in the U.S. and Simon Property Group in Europe, to name but three, all came about through encounters at ICSC meetings, he says. “This really helped me a lot in my business.”

Business relationships have developed into strong friendships, too, Tremblay says, citing his ties to the Carvalho family, which founded Ancar, and to General Growth’s Bucksbaum family.

It is John Bucksbaum, General Growth’s CEO, whom Tremblay would be succeeding as ICSC’s chairman.

Today Ivanhoe owns centers in Brazil, France, Germany, Poland, Spain the United Kingdom and the United States. The firm is also developing a mall in Moscow. In September 2005 Ivanhoe opened an office in Shanghai, China, from which it is seeking development opportunities in China and elsewhere. Last summer the firm announced the creation of C2 Group, which it owns as a 50-50 joint venture with a local partner. C2 will run the company’s operations in China.

Tremblay describes Ivanhoe’s strategy as a balance of stability and risk, hinging on steady, reliable income from the Canadian properties to support exploration of more-challenging emerging markets. He says he sees great potential for retail real estate growth in Brazil and China in particular.

Such overseas expansion is vital for Canadian companies with any ambition, Tremblay says, noting the relatively small size of Canada’s market compared to the U.S.

Also driving Ivanhoe’s growth is the steady flow of pension money into the company. Ivanhoe is a principal real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the leading institutional fund manager in Canada. Other shareholders of the firm include four major Canadian pension funds.

In total, Ivanhoe owns about 45 million square feet of real estate, consisting of some 70 shopping centers, worth over C$11 billion in total.

What a contrast to just 10 years ago, Tremblay says, when the company’s portfolio consisted mainly of small shopping centers, all of them within the borders of Québec.

Such growth has necessitated a busy corporate schedule, but Tremblay says he strives to prevent business matters from eclipsing family priorities. Tremblay lives in Montréal with his wife, Micheline Soucy Tremblay, and their daughter, Eugénie, 11. A son, Maxime, 27, is pursuing a doctorate in medical biology, and a daughter, Geneviève, 24, is studying for a Bachelor of Arts in sports management. (Geneviève currently has an internship with the Montréal Alouettes football team.)

In a sense, René and Micheline Tremblay’s family responsibilities have grown considerably in recent years, following their adoption of Eugénie, who was born in China. Inspired by their encounters with children in need of homes, Micheline Tremblay created the foundation Formons une Famille (Forming a Family), which provides care and roofs over the heads of youngsters whose eligibility for adoption might be compromised by handicap or age. Among its many activities, Formons une Famille, of which Micheline Tremblay is president, established an orphanage in Vietnam and is building a small village in India that is to include a school as well as housing.

Consequently, it is not just retail development that takes the Tremblay family to the far reaches of the earth, though it will no doubt account for more of René Tremblay’s travel in the course of his 2007-2008 term as ICSC chairman.

On particularly taxing days, then, René Tremblay might be forgiven for wishing he could switch places with Geneviève in her proximity to the football team. “I adore sports,” he said. He is particularly enamored of ice hockey, and he has also pursued tennis, judo and karate. In addition, he enjoys chess and is a wine connoisseur.

But even in these most demanding moments, he is likely to be bolstered by his passion for ICSC. Being nominated as chairman, he says, is “an honor I never dreamed of.”