Gent of leisure

18 December 2002 By Paul Raynes

Gent of leisure

18 December 2002 By Paul Raynes

The man who built Vodafone into the only real global mobile business is to retire next year, his successor Vodafone nonexec Arun Sarin. The group is trying to signal continuity. But replacing a dealmaker with a technocrat might bring a useful evolution in style.

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Sir Chris Gent, the chief executive of Vodafone, is to retire with effect from July 30 next year. His successor will be Arun Sarin, who is currently chairman of a US telecoms investment fund and was until 2000 president and COO of Airtouch. Sarin, a US citizen who grew up in India, is a nonexecutive director of Vodafone. He will receive a £1.1m basic salary and an options package modelled on Gent's.

Gent has run Vodafone for 7 years, and led it though the mergers with Airtouch and Mannesmann, and the takeover of Japan Telecom, that made it the mobile group with the most significant global presence. This autumn, he drove its ultimately unsuccessful bid for control of French mobile operator Cegetel. He will be 55 next year, and has a young, second, family. Vodafone's chairman Lord Maclaurin has issued a supplementary statement to say that his retirement was entirely voluntary.

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