City grandee Rupert Pennant-Rea is stepping down as chairman of fund manager Henderson, which today said it would shift its tax base back to the UK.
Pennant-Rea, who will become chairman of mutual insurer Royal London, holds an array of directorships with listed companies including transport group Go-Ahead. He is a former editor of the Economist and, as an independent director of The Times, willl have a say in picking the newspaper’s new editor. He famously resigned as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England after an extra-marital affair with journalist Mary Ellen Synon in 1995. She stung Pennant-Rea in a tabloid kiss-and-tell with lurid details of liaisons in then-Bank of England Governor Eddie George’s dressing room.
Since Pennant-Rea became chairman of Henderson in 2005, he has steered through rescues of two rivals — New Star Asset Management in 2009 and Gartmore in 2011. The deals have helped Henderson boost assets under management to £64.8 billion. Pennant-Rea will succeed Royal London chairman Tim Melville-Ross, a former Nationwide chief executive, in May.
Henderson, which moved its tax base to Ireland four years ago, is moving back to the UK in response to Chancellor George Osborne’s relaxation of taxation rules on the taxation of overseas profits.
Meanwhile, insurer Prudential today named respected financial services player Philip Remnant as senior independent director. The Credit Suisse adviser and Takeover Panel deputy chairman succeeds Paul Manduca, who became chairman earlier this year.
