(Adds executive comment, details on Allan's salary)
Nov 22 (Reuters) - British property developer Land
Securities Group on Friday named St. Modwen Properties'
top boss Mark Allan as its new chief executive officer,
replacing Robert Noel, who will step down next year.
Land Securities, which owns the Bluewater shopping centre in
southeast England, said Allan will take over from Noel no later
than June 1 and will receive an annual salary of 800,000 pounds
($1.03 million).
"Mark has been a highly successful CEO of two companies in
the property sector. He has demonstrated strong management
skills and the strategic insights that we believe will ... be
invaluable for the next phase of Landsec's evolution," Chairman
Cressida Hogg said.
St. Modwen separately said it had begun looking for a
successor to Allan.
Allan was also the former chief executive officer of Unite
Group.
Jefferies analysts said both St. Modwen and Unite grew under
Allan, with St. Modwen's share price appreciating 64%.
For Land Securities, the announcement comes just 10 days
after it posted a loss for the first half, as UK store closures
took a toll.
Noel's departure date has not been decided, Land Securities
said. He joined the FTSE 100 company as managing director of its
London portfolio in 2010 and became the CEO in 2012.
($1 = 0.7744 pounds)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by
Shailesh Kuber, Bernard Orr)