Sir John Ritblat, chairman of British Land, will announce his retirement next week at the FTSE-100 group’s annual meeting.
It is understood that Sir John has decided to bow out after seeing his shareholding in the group jump to £48m from just £10m at the start of the decade.
Sir John may not leave the company for several months. He is expected to be succeeded by Chris Gibson-Smith, chairman of the London Stock Exchange and former managing director of BP.
References: Financial Times 08/07/06 page 15, Daily Telegraph 08/07/06 page 29
