CLS Holdings Plc
CLI:LN
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Overview
Company Profile
Property investment company, CLS, aims to achieve stable cash flows by investing mainly in office buildings let on long leases. Operating from offices in London, Paris and Stockholm, the group hopes to see long-term asset growth by holding, refurbishing and developing properties.
Classification
Financials
News & Media
Corporate
Board of Directors
Sten Mortstedt
Executive Chairman
Sten Mortstedt has a consistent track record during a period of over 40 years, of building profitable and sustainable businesses both within the field of property and in a wide variety of other commercial sectors. He began his career in 1962 with Svenska Handelsbanken in Stockholm and within three years he had formed a property investment partnership. In 1968 he was appointed Managing Director and later Chairman of the Mortstedt family property company, Citadellet AB, which he successfully floated on the Stock Exchange in Stockholm, in 1981. The company was sold in 1985 for a price five times higher than the introduction price and was at that time the largest property deal ever recorded in Scandinavia. Since 1977 he has been involved in establishing and running property interests in the UK, Sweden, France and Germany. He established CLS in 1987 and took the Company to a listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in 1994. Since that time, as Executive Chairman he has been a driving force in this pan-European Group in generating growth in profits and asset values. In addition to his focus on property, he has been commercially active in a number of investment areas outside the property arena and has seen a number of the companies in which he has invested through to successful stock exchange listings or trade sales. He runs his global interests from his residence in Switzerland.
Henry Klotz
Executive Vice Chairman
Henry Klotz qualified as an engineer and economist, was appointed MD in Citadellet AB 1978-1985 and joined the group in 1999. He was initially responsible for the management of our Swedish operation and latterly was involved in the setup of our German division. In January 2008 Henry relocated to our London head office and took up the role of Business Development Director responsible for identifying and sourcing new business opportunities for the Group. On 2 May 2008 he took office as the Chief Executive Officer of the Group and held this role until stepping down 31 December 2010. He was appointed Executive Vice Chairman 1 January 2011. On behalf of CLS he is also Non-Executive Chairman of Catena AB, a Nordic real estate company quoted on the Stockholm stock exchange, in which CLS holds 13.8% of its shares. He is also Non-Executive Chairman of Bulgarian Land Developlment plc, in which CLS holds 48.71% of its shares.
Fredrik Widlund
Chief Executive Officer
Fredrik joined CLS as Chief Executive Officer in November 2014 and has 20 + years’ experience in business leadership, property and finance. He joined from GE Capital, for whom he worked for 15 years, including two years as Finance Director and four years as Managing Director of GE Capital Real Estate (UK), and finally as Managing Director and Global Commercial Leader at its trade finance business, GE Capital International. Prior to his career with GE, he worked for Shell in London and Sweden. Fredrik has a degree in Economics from the University of Stockholm.
John Whiteley
Chief Financial Officer
John Whiteley joined the Company in October 2009 and was appointed to the Board on 24 November 2009. John was previously Finance Officer at Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate, and for ten years was Finance Director of Great Portland Estates plc. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and spent nine years with Ernst & Young, after qualifying with Spicer & Pegler. John gained his BA (Econ) (Hons) from the University of Manchester
Malcolm Cooper
Non-Executive Director
Malcolm Cooper is Group Tax & Treasury Director of National Grid plc where he has worked for various predecessor companies since 1991. Prior to that he worked for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). He has a first in pure mathematics from Warwick University, is a qualified accountant and is a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. He joined the Board in May 2007 and chairs the Audit Committee and is a member of the Remuneration Committee. Malcolm is also the Company\'s Senior Independent Director.
Joseph Crawley
Non-Executive Director
Joseph Crawley is Managing Director of Neat Developments Limited, a property investment and development company active in London and south-east England. Joseph has considerable experience, knowledge and contacts relating to the central London property market and has been active in property development in the area for over 25 years. He was previously employed by CLS from 1988 to 1991 when he was responsible for property development, including the development of the Spring Gardens site. He was also CLS\' Development Director from 1995 to September 1999. He joined the Board of CLS in November 2008.
Elizabeth Edwards
Non-Executive Director
Elizabeth Edwards joined the Board on 13 May 2014. Elizabeth is a qualified Chartered Surveyor with over 20 years’ experience in the banking industry. She was most recently Head of UK Property Lending at Landesbank Berlin, having previously held senior positions in London with National Australia Bank, Berlin Hyp and Westdeutsche Immobilienbank. Prior to her banking career, she worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers as a management consultant. Elizabeth is a Trustee of the Salvation Army International Trust, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a member of the Association of Property Lenders, and the Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors.
Christopher Jarvis
Non-Executive Director
Christopher P Jarvis FRICS, joined the Board in 2008 and is a member of the Audit Committee. He has an M.A. from Cambridge University and is a partner of Jarvis & Partners, a boutique real estate consultancy which he established in Berlin in 1994. Previously he was Managing Director of Richard Ellis Germany where he established the firm\'s Frankfurt and Berlin offices. His firm has acted as development partner for the HRO Group in Germany. Chris chairs the Remuneration Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee.
Thomas Lundqvist
Non-Executive Director
Thomas Lundqvist joined the Board in November 1990 and had been Finance Director of the Group until retiring from the position and becoming a Non-Executive Director on 1 October 1995. Prior to joining CLS, Mr Lundqvist worked for the ASEA-Brown Boveri Group (ABB) and from 1983 for Svenska Finans International, part of Svenska Handelsbanken Group where he was a board member. Thomas was appointed Vice Chairman on 24 November 2009 and held this role until stepping down 31 December 2010.
Lennart Sten
Non-Executive Director
Lennart Sten joined CLS as an Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 August 2014. He has 15 years’ experience in the international property industry having held senior positions at GE Capital and GE Real Estate Nordic, most recently Chief Executive Officer of GE Capital Real Estate Europe, from which he stepped down in March. Prior to his time at GE Capital, he was a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP, Stockholm, and an Assistant Judge in the District Court of Solna. He is a non-executive director of Victoria Park AB, a company listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stock Exchange, Stockholm, and of a number of private companies, including Inter IKEA Holding SA.
Philip Mortstedt
Non-Executive Director
Philip Mortstedt is the son of one of the founders of CLS, Bengt Mortstedt, and was appointed to the Board on 11 May 2015. Philip established an online media enterprise focused on motorsport, managing professional events for the past decade. Philip is also involved in the family\'s hotel and land developments in the Caribbean as well as in equity investments and residential property.
Anna Seeley
Non-Executive Director
Anna Seeley (née Mortstedt), is a qualified Chartered Surveyor and has worked in the property industry for over 20 years. She has held various positions within the property departments of General Electric and the BT Group and, from 2001 to 2003, was the Company’s Group Property Director and Board member. For the last 8 years Mrs Seeley has been a Director of the Skansen Group Limited, a specialist office fit-out and refurbishment company. Mrs Seeley holds a degree in property valuation and finance from City University and is the daughter of the Company’s Executive Chairman, Sten Mortstedt.