New Director General of U.K. Takeover Panel Announced

The U.K. Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, the U.K.'s takeover regulator, today announced the appointment of Robert Hingley as its new director general.  He will replace Mark Warham of Morgan Stanley and serve a two-year appointment beginning as of December 1, 2007.  According to the announcement, Robert Hingley is 47 and currently serves as Vice Chairman of Lexicon Partners, an independent corporate advisory firm based in London and Hong Kong.  Previously Hingley was an attorney with with Clifford Chance and the investment bank Citigroup.   

Hingley will actually serve on secondment from Lexicon partners for the two-year period.  This is a common practice in the United Kingdom with respect to not only the Takeover Panel, but also the Financial Services Authority, the U.K. equivalent of the SEC, and the Office of Fair Trading, the U.K.'s antitrust regulator.