Pascal Duhamel, the head of French hypermarket chain Carrefour's property arm, has stepped down after the company shelved plans to spin off the division due to worsening market conditions.

Duhamel was appointed as executive director of the group's real estate subsidiary in 2008, primarily to lead the separation of Carrefour's real estate portfolio into a separate listed unit. His resignation reflects the decision by the French retail giant to pull the Initial Public Offering indefinitely.

Carrefour confirmed the resignation of Duhamel to PropertyEU on Friday, adding his replacement will be announced 'very soon'.

Duhamel began his career at Bouygues Immobilier as commercial director from 1990 to 1997. He joined the Archon Group (Goldman Sachs) and then Morgan Stanley in 1998 where he managed real estate investment funds in France, Spain and Belgium.

Carrefour first postponed the spin-off of 25% of its property arm in May this year following the unexpected departure of its executive director for France, James McCann. The move, which could have generated up to EUR 4 bn in special dividends for the group's investors, was thwarted by the holding of Groupe Arnault of France and Colony Capital of the US, which have a combined 14% stake.