By Tom Bergin
LONDON (Reuters) - ERICSSON (ERICB.ES)said Chief Executive Carl-Henric Svanberg is stepping down to become Chairman of BP <:BP.LO:>Plc in a surprise appointment that ends the oil major's lengthy search for a new chairman.
His successor at the Nordic telecoms equipment firm will be Chief Financial Officer Hans Vestberg, a welcome move that was unlikely to lead to major strategic changes, analysts said.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward told Reuters Europe's second-largest oil company would benefit from Svanberg's experience in emerging markets and in dealing with governments as it shifts the focus of its downstream business eastwards.
Svanberg, who will take over from Peter Sutherland in what will be his first oil industry role in January 2010, has been CEO at Ericsson since 2003.
He has enjoyed a largely successful tenure, analysts said, though his position has been in doubt since a profit warning in 2007 hit investor confidence in management.
"(His departure) has been pretty much rumoured for the past year and a half, since the 2007 profit warning. Meanwhile Hans Vestberg has proven himself a sensible CFO," Alexander Peterc, analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, said.
Investors who exited the stock after the warning may now review that decision.
"Many investors said they would never look at Ericsson until there was management change," one dealer said.
But several analysts said they did not expect a major strategy shift at the company, which manufactures mobile phone networks, provides telecoms services and co-owns the world's no.4 handset maker, Sony Ericsson, with Japan's Sony Corp.
Ericsson shares were down 0.9 percent at 76.00 Swedish crowns at 0945 GMT, matching declines in the DJ Stoxx European telecom equipment makers index. BP shares traded unchanged, outperforming a 0.8 percent drop in the DJ Stoxx European oil and gas sector index.
VALUABLE EXPERIENCE
BP's Hayward said Svanberg's experience in dealing with governments would be valued.
Governments are big buyers of telecoms equipment, while regulatory issues are also a big driver for the sector. As governments award oil and gas licenses, good government relations are similarly essential for oil companies.
Svanberg's emerging markets knowledge is also expected to help as BP shifts the focus of its refining and marketing business toward Asia.
"In downstream, the challenge is how to reposition the capital employed from the mature markets into the immature, growing markets and that's something that the telecoms industry has managed to do very successfully over the last decade or so," Hayward told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"In terms of managing that transition, I think Carl-Henric will have a hell of a lot to offer."
FRAUGHT RECRUITMENT
The appointment ends a fraught recruitment process at BP. Sutherland had expected to stand down late last year or earlier this year.
BP initially selected miner Rio Tinto's then chairman Paul Skinner, a former Royal Dutch Shell Plc executive, to fill the job.
However, Skinner withdrew following investor unease over Rio's plan to sell $19.5 billion in assets and bonds to Chinese state-owned aluminum group Chinalco, BP sources said.
Skinner stepped down from his Rio role in March and earlier this month Rio dropped the Chinalco deal.
That reverse poisoned the BP role for some potential candidates, especially UK businessmen, some executives said, and limited the options open to the company, which had hoped to select someone with oil industry experience.
Sutherland was a popular Chairman, whose previous experience as an European Union Commissioner and head of the World Trade Organization brought BP valuable international contacts.
His tenure is best remembered for a spat with former CEO John Browne, over Browne's desire to extend his role beyond BP's normal retirement age of 60 years.
Svanberg will join the BP board in September and, once he becomes Chairman, will be based in London and devote the majority of his time to BP business, BP said.
He will also remain on the Ericsson board of directors.
(Additional reporting by Mia Shanley in Stockholm)
(editing by Will Waterman, John Stonestreet)
