Lord Browne out of race for National Grid hotseat

By Rupert Steiner for the Daily Mail
Updated: 16:47 EDT, 26 May 2011

Former BP boss Lord Browne is understood to have bowed out of the race to chair National Grid, leaving the path clear for rival contender Sir Peter Gershon.

The two men were the final candidates shortlisted to replace long-standing Sir John Parker, who had previously announced plans to step down at the end of the year.

Browne, who quit BP in 2007, was shortlisted in April to become chairman of commodities trading giant Glencore, which floated on the London Stock Exchange earlier this week, but the job eventually went to Hong Kong-based businessman Simon Murray.

Stepping down: Lord Browne

He was latterly linked with National Grid but is making it clear to friends he no longer wants a return to mainstream corporate life at the helm of a FTSE 100 firm.

Browne, who was widely credited with transforming BP from a second line player in the oil business into an oil major on the global stage during a nine year tenure, has amassed a number of high profile positions. 

He is managing director of private equity firm Riverstone Holdings, chairman of the trustees at the Tate Gallery and was more recently appointed chairman of the advisory board at asset manager Stanhope Capital.

The appointment of Gershon, a former civil servant and GEC director, who is currently chairman of engineer Premier Farnell and mobile-phone platform Symbian, is expected to be unveiled in due course.

A spokesman for National Grid (down 0.85p to 616.15p) declined to comment. Parker has been chairman since October 2002 following the merger of National Grid and Lattice Group, having led Lattice since its demerger from BG in 2000.

National Grid owns and operates the gas and electricity pipelines in England and Wales. It also own a metering, property and liquefied natural gas import terminal.

In the northeast of America it has a similar setup, with a lot more of the local gas and electricity networks, but has struggled to succeed in America ever since entering the market ten years ago.

National Grid failed to win approval from the regulator to hikes rates and has been forced to cut jobs and sell off its operations in New Hampshire in recent months. Fixing the US business will be top of the to do list for the new chairman.

■ FORMER BP boss Tony Hayward is hoping to raise £1billion floating an investment fund that will target the energy industry.