Taking on two new jobs in as many days would stretch most people, particularly when they already had numerous other directorships, but somehow one gets the sense that Bob Wigley will be fine.
It was announced at the weekend that the 48-year-old, best known in the City for his stint as the chairman of Merrill Lynch’s Europe, Middle East and Africa unit from 2004 until January this year, has joined Advent International, the private equity firm, as operating partner to advise on opportunities in financial services in Europe.
Yesterday, Mr Wigley was named chairman of Yell Group, owner of Yell.com and publisher of Yellow Pages. He succeeds Bob Scott, an insurance industry veteran, who quit last month with a reputation tarnished by having chaired the Royal Bank of Scotland remuneration committee that agreed Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension.
Yell, who will pay Mr Wigley £250,000 a year, is getting one of the City’s busiest dealmakers over the past decade. Among deals on which he has advised include the takeover bid by GUS for Argos in 1998; the sale of One2One by Cable & Wireless to Germany’s T-Mobile a year later; Sir Philip Green’s takeover of Arcadia in 1999; and Sir Philip’s unsuccessful tilt in 2004 for Marks & Spencer.
His priority will be to review funding options and helping to organise a refinancing of Yell, which has debts of £4.2billion after an acquisition spree in America and Spain that made it the world’s biggest directories publisher.
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He said: “Its customer delivery and operational performance despite the economic climate are impressive, and I know of few companies which are so successfully building and monetising a rapidly growing online business to complement its highly cost-effective print operations.”
Mr Wigley, who grew up and went to school in Exeter, is putting his money where his mouth is. He snapped up £48,365 worth of Yell shares yesterday after his appointment was announced.
Before Merrill, Mr Wigley spent nine years at Morgan Grenfell and, after it was taken over in 1990, Deutsche Bank. Prior to the City, he trained as an accountant with Arthur Andersen, having taken a four-year sandwich course in business studies sponsored by British Gas. The father of three’s other current activities include heading a review by Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, into how the City can preserve its present status and serving on the Court of the Bank of England.