Javier Echave Espot, with previous experience at Ferrovial and current Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Heathrow Airport, will leave this responsibility in October to join as the new Chief Financial Officer of Merlin Properties.
With this move, the Spanish executive will end more than 18 years linked to Heathrow and will take on the financial management of the real estate socimi, as reported by "Expansión" and "Forbes".
Asked by Europa Press, sources from Merlin Properties indicated that the company "has not made and is not making comments on this matter".
Echave, who has also developed part of his career at the Ferrovial group, served as advisor and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Heathrow between 2016 and 2024. Since then he has held the position of Chief Operating Officer of the main airport in the United Kingdom, a responsibility that, according to the same reports, he will leave in October.
Previously, he held the positions of "Heathrow Business Finance Director" (2013-2016), "Head of Central Finance" (2011-2013), and "Special Projects & Refinancing Manager" (2008-2011) at Heathrow, according to the data listed in his LinkedIn profile.
In its latest accounts, Merlin Properties recorded a recurring profit of 180 million euros in the first half of 2026, representing an 8% increase compared to the same period of the previous year.
Furthermore, the net accounting profit rose to 579 million euros, 13% more, and incorporates, among other factors, the favorable impact of the revaluation of its assets, which grew by 3.7%, reaching 13.508 million euros in added value of its entire real estate portfolio.
This portfolio was particularly strengthened by the activity of "data centers", which accounted for around 80% of the value creation recorded in the semester.
In this same line, the socimi announced in March the raising of 767 million euros, at market prices, through a capital increase aimed at accelerating the development of its data center business.
Additionally, the CEO of Merlin Properties, Ismael Clemente, anticipated in April before shareholders that the company will multiply by three by 2032, by which time it is expected that most of its data centers will already be operational and will represent up to 65% of the total revenue of the group.