Evercore man runs Takeover Panel

A leading investment banker is to take charge of the Takeover Panel, just as the watchdog considers a major overhaul of the City's deal-making rules.

Robert Gillespie, a senior managing director at Evercore and a veteran of UBS, will become the panel's new director-general on 6 September. The role of is rotated to a banker on secondment every two years.

However, in February the designated head, Lazard's Peter Kiernan, withdrew from the job after the panel criticised the US food group Kraft and its adviser Lazard over the takeover of Cadbury.

The Takeover Panel is an independent body that issues and administers the City's code on takeovers and regulates deals. Its central objective is to ensure fair treatment for investors.