Wigley named as new Yell chairman
DIRECTORIES publisher Yell said yesterday it had appointed Bob Wigley, ex-chairman of Merrill Lynch’s Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, as its new group chairman.
The appointment of the veteran banker comes as the Yellow Pages owner seeks to reassure investors over the stability of its heavily-leveraged balance sheet.
The group – which took a £1.3bn writedown last month – said Wigley would join the group on 24 July, following its annual meeting.
He will replace Bob Scott, the former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) director, who said last month he would stand down rather than face a shareholder vote. Investors, who are concerned about Scott’s role in agreeing former RBS chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin’s £17m pension, had threatened to oppose his re-election.
But the addition of Wigley to the board will go some way to soothing concerns about the company’s stewardship. Wigley was with Merrill until earlier this year and has held a number of senior corporate and investment banking positions at the firm. Previously, he worked for Morgan Grenfell.
He is also deputy chairman of Business in the Community and last year led a report on the competitiveness of Canada on behalf of Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
He is also chairman of the global advisory board of Oxford University’s Centre for Corporate Reputation and a member of the senior practitioners’ committee of the Financial Services Authority.
The City see Wigley’s salary of £250,000 a year, almost £100,000 more than his predecessor’s, as a sign of how much time and attention he will be expected to give to Yell.