BAE Systems Appoints New Chairman

BAE Systems today appointed Roger Carr as its new chairman, replacing Dick Olver who was asked to step aside after the collapse last year of the company's proposed mega-merger with European aerospace group EADS.

"BAE Systems plc is pleased to announce that Sir Roger Carr...will succeed Dick Olver as chairman in the first quarter 2014, following a transition period," the defence group said in a statement.

Olver, who will leave after nine years in the role, had faced pressure to resign from BAE's biggest shareholders after last October's merger collapse.

An attempt to create the biggest aerospace and defence group in the world became mired in the quicksand of politics and eventually failed.