British homebuilder Taylor Wimpey names insider Daly as CEO

[LONDON] Taylor Wimpey named on Monday (Feb 7) company insider Jennie Daly as its next chief executive officer, 2 months after one of its largest shareholders called for an outsider to lead Britain's third largest homebuilder.

Daly, currently group operations director and a board member who has been with Taylor Wimpey since 2014, replaces long-time CEO Pete Redfern, who said in December he would step down.

Activist investor Elliott Management, among Taylor Wimpey's 5 largest shareholders, in December publicly highlighted its concerns about the company's strategy and called on it to focus its CEO search on external candidates "who have not been a party to the underperformance to date".

Elliott did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Monday.

The investor has in recent months launched campaigns for changes at several London-listed companies including energy firm SSE and drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline.

"(Daly's) appointment follows a thorough recruitment and selection process, led by the nomination and governance committee of the board, that considered a long list of industry and non-industry candidates, along with extensive consultation with shareholders," Taylor Wimpey said in a statement.

Daly, who will join a small handful of women leaders as the CEO of a FTSE 100 company, will take up the role after the company's annual general meeting on Apr 26. REUTERS