PARIS — Rolls-Royce, the British engineering group, on Thursday announced the surprise resignation of Mark King as chief of its aerospace business, barely four months after the 27-year company veteran had been appointed to run the group’s most prestigious division, which builds engines for commercial and military aircraft.
The company gave no explanation for the sudden departure of Mr. King, 48, in a statement to the London Stock Exchange, although a Rolls-Royce spokeswoman said it was for ‘’personal’’ reasons.
The departure of a key executive comes at a sensitive time for Rolls-Royce, which disclosed in December that it was cooperating with an investigation by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office into alleged bribery at some of the company’s Asian business operations.
Rolls-Royce said at the time that it had been contacted in early 2012 by the fraud office about concerns regarding certain civil aerospace deals in Indonesia and China in the 1980s and 1990s. The company followed up with its own internal inquiry and passed its findings on to British investigators late last year. It has since appointed Lord David Gold, a lawyer and Conservative peer, to lead an audit of its current compliance procedures.
Both Rolls-Royce and the Serious Fraud Office declined to comment Thursday on whether Mr. King’s resignation was connected to the corruption investigation. Nor would they say whether Mr. King had been interviewed or had played any role in the internal or fraud office inquiries.
‘’Mark King has decided, after a lot of years doing a high-pressure job, to take a break and pursue a change of direction,’’ said Jane Terry, the Rolls-Royce spokeswoman.
According to British media reports, Rolls-Royce and the fraud office have been discussing a civil settlement that would waive any criminal charges in the case in exchange for a multimillion-pound fine. Rolls-Royce and the fraud office declined to comment on those reports.
Mr. King, who could not be reached for comment, is to be replaced as of June 1 by Tony Wood, currently in charge of Rolls-Royce’s marine-engine division, which builds propulsion systems for vessels ranging from luxury yachts to nuclear submarines. Mr. Wood’s duties are to be assumed by Lawrie Haynes, the head of Rolls-Royce’s nuclear energy division, who would henceforth be in charge of both the marine and nuclear businesses, the company said.
Analysts and aerospace industry executives expressed shock at Mr. King’s decision to step down so soon after being promoted in January from Rolls-Royce’s head of civil aerospace — a job he had held since 2007 — to chief of the group’s combined civil and defense aerospace businesses.
The two aerospace units generated more than 70 percent of Rolls-Royce’s £12.2 billion, or $19 billion, in revenue last year. Rolls-Royce is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines after General Electric of the United States.
‘’Mark was well known and well respected in the aviation industry,’’ said John Leahy, chief commercial officer at Airbus, whose A380 and other wide-body jets are powered by Rolls-Royce’s Trent engines. ‘’He will surely be missed.’’
Mr. King joined Rolls-Royce in 1986 and has held various positions in engineering and manufacturing, including stints in Australia, Switzerland and the United States, according to a biography on the company’s Web site.
In late afternoon trading in London Thursday, shares of Rolls-Royce were down 1.3 percent at £11.18.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/business/global/rolls-royce-aerospace-chief-mark-king-resigns.html?partner=rss&emc=rss