THE sudden resignation of Redefine Properties joint CEO and director Wolf Cesman for “personal reasons” yesterday caught the market off guard.

Grindrod Asset Management chief investment officer Ian Anderson said yesterday it was a surprise and unexpected as Cesman, who joined Redefine at inception in 2001 as a nonexecutive director, and joint CEO Marc Wainer were instrumental in shaping SA’s listed property sector “as we know it today”.

Redefine is now SA’s second largest listed property company.

Both Cesman and Wainer, who according to Anderson were perceived by the market as a “very” strong team, recently concluded one of the largest mergers in the listed property sector.

The merger between Redefine, ApexHi Properties and Madison Property Fund Managers resulted in Redefine becoming the second local property share after Growthpoint Properties to make the JSE Alsi top 40. “The merger positioned Redefine as SA’s second-largest property group with aspirations to expand both locally and offshore. Having done all this, it is surprising that Cesman would exit the business,” Anderson said.

Wainer would continue in his capacity as CEO of Redefine Properties and would work closely with his executive team to fill the gap left by Cesman, Redefine said.