DDR Names David J. Oakes President

BEACHWOOD, Ohio, Jan. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- DDR Corp. (NYSE: DDR) today announced that senior executive vice president and chief financial officer <span class="xn-person">David J. Oakes has been named president of the Company, effective January 1, 2013. Mr. Oakes will remain chief financial officer of DDR, and continues to report to Daniel B. Hurwitz, DDR's chief executive officer.

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"I am very pleased to recognize David's extraordinary financial and operational talents with this promotion," stated Mr. Hurwitz. "He continues to expand his leadership position both internally and externally, and I greatly value our partnership."

Mr. Oakes commented, "It is an exceptional honor to expand my responsibilities and become president of a world class organization such as DDR. I am very proud of all that we have accomplished in recent years and I look forward to working with Dan and our deeply talented team to produce more years of disciplined growth, and best in class operating and financial results."

Mr. Oakes joined DDR as executive vice president of finance and chief investment officer in April 2007. He was promoted to senior executive vice president of finance and chief investment officer in December 2008, and chief financial officer in February 2010. Mr. Oakes serves on DDR's management, executive, compensation and enterprise risk management committees, chairs the investment committee and is a director of Sonae Sierra Brasil, the Company's publicly traded joint venture that owns and manages high quality shopping centers throughout Brazil.

Prior to joining DDR, Mr. Oakes served as senior vice president and portfolio manager at Cohen & Steers Capital Management. In that role, he was responsible for the Firm's global and international real estate securities portfolios for the oldest and largest dedicated real estate securities fund manager. Previously, he worked as a research analyst in global investment research at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Oakes earned his bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

About DDR

DDR is an owner and manager of 459 value-oriented shopping centers representing 116 million square feet in 39 states, Puerto Rico and Brazil. The company's assets are concentrated in high barrier-to-entry markets with stable populations and high growth potential and its portfolio is actively managed to create long-term shareholder value. DDR is a self-administered and self-managed REIT operating as a fully integrated real estate company, and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DDR. Additional information about the company is available at www.ddr.com.

Safe Harbor

DDR considers portions of the information in this press release to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, both as amended, with respect to the Company's expectation for future periods.  Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved.  For this purpose, any statements contained herein that are not historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements.  There are a number of important factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including, among other factors, local conditions such as oversupply of space or a reduction in demand for real estate in the area; competition from other available space; dependence on rental income from real property; the loss of, significant downsizing of or bankruptcy of a major tenant; constructing properties or expansions that produce a desired yield on investment; our ability to buy or sell assets on commercially reasonable terms; our ability to complete acquisitions or dispositions of assets under contract; our ability to secure equity or debt financing on commercially acceptable terms or at all; our ability to enter into definitive agreements with regard to our financing and joint venture arrangements or our failure to satisfy conditions to the completion of these arrangements; and the success of our capital recycling strategy.  For additional factors that could cause the results of the Company to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, as amended.  The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof.

SOURCE DDR Corp.