Safeway chief to take top hotels job

DAVID Webster, the Safeway chairman squeezing Wm Morrison for a cash sweetener to its £2.95bn takeover offer, is to take the chair at InterContinental Hotels Group.

The appointment of Webster, already non-executive deputy chairman of the group, is pencilled in to take place on 1 January, when he will replace outgoing chairman Sir Ian Prosser.

However, it is unlikely the succession will be allowed until Webster has finished overseeing the Safeway takeover, as holding chairmanship of both boards would breach corporate governance rules.

During long City careers, the two men have amassed some of the biggest pension pots in British corporate history.

Webster, paid £810,000 by Safeway last year, has £7.6m in his Safeway pension pot, wh i le Prosser's is worth £9.9m.

Webster is in line for a £1.2m pay-off when Safeway is sold. The 59-year-old has been chairman of Safeway since 1997 and is the last survivor of the three executives who bought Safeway from its American owners in 1987 through their Argyll vehicle.

He is now attempting to extract a further £500m from Wm Morrison to buy the ailing chain, according to reports which suggest he wants more than 320p a share for the group.