Mitchells & Butlers today turned to one of its arch-rival pub companies to end its 18-month long search for a chief executive.
Alistair Darby, Marston’s chief operating officer, has been lured away to take on one of the toughest jobs in the beerage with aggressive, 23% shareholder Joe Lewis, the billionaire currency trader who has already bid for the company and seen off one chairman and chief executive, peering over his shoulder.
Darby claimed he was not unused to being thrown in at the deep end.
He said: “A job of this significance and scale is not without its challenges, but I will not be coming into the chief executive’s role with a blueprint for change.”
M&B’s last chief executive, Adam Fowle, was ousted in March 2011 — just one of more than dozen boardroom casualties in recent years.
Chairman Bob Ivell has been running the company for the last 11 months and also conducted the search for a new chief executive himself without the use of headhunters.
Darby will join M&B at the start of October and take over fully following a brief induction and handover period from Ivell who will revert to a non-executive role.
He is likely to be paid slightly less than Fowle was with a basic salary of around £500,000.
In addition, he has not been given a golden hello and will not get special pay-off terms in the event of, say, Lewis launching a successful takeover bid in six months’ time.
Darby, 46, has worked for Marston’s since 1997. He was previously employed at Mars Confectionery, Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries and United Distillers.
He said: “Mitchells & Butlers is a market-leading business with tremendous potential that is well advanced on a transformation programme. I am excited by the opportunity to lead the company and, together with the management team, to build on M&B’s strong estate, brands and operations.”
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Marston’s has not immediately replaced Darby with the managing directors of its two divisions reporting directly in to chief executive Ralph Findlay.
Analysts pointed out that Darby enjoyed a strong, No. 2 position at Marston’s but was unlikely to get the top job there given that he is a similar age to Findlay.
