San Diego-based Realty Income Corp. announced Tuesday that Sumit Roy, the company’s president and chief operating officers, has been promoted to chief executive.
The real estate investment trust also declared its 580th consecutive monthly common stock dividend. The dividend of $0.2205 per share, representing an annualized $2.646 per share, is payable Nov. 15 to shareholders of record Nov. 1.
Roy succeeds John P. Case, who is stepping down after eight years, and will also join the company’s board of directors.
“Sumit has been a valuable contributor to our senior management team since joining Realty Income in 2011, and his leadership as president and COO has been instrumental in building Realty Income into the successful company it is today,” said Board Chair Michael D. McKee.
Case said Roy is “the natural choice to be the CEO. I believe Realty Income is well-positioned for continued growth and success.”
Roy was named chief operating officers and 2014 and president in 2015. Prior to joining Realty Income, he was an executive director at UBS Investment Bank. Roy has a bachelors and masters degrees in computer science and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
“This announcement came as a surprise,” said securities analyst Matt Kopsky with Edward Jones, “but we believe that Realty Income has a deep bench and that there will be no change in the company’s strategy.”
Realty Income has owns 5,400 properties that are under long-term lease agreements with regional and national commercial tenants.
Updated at 10:40 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 17
