The move also confirms reports that the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive will be split not later than the 2004 Annual General Meeting. John Ritblat, who currently holds both positions, will stay on after the new appointment to "ensure the orderly succession and continuity in executive management of the Company".

The news that Ritblat will stay on "for a while" is being interpreted by some in the City as a u-turn after suggestions last year that Ritblat would step down once a replacement chief executive had been found. Even so, the City responded favourably to the idea of continuity of management and shares rose in early trading by 11.25p to 2.7% to 423p. But some investors remain cautious about the extent to which Ritblat will take a backseat to the new incumbent.

The move, however, also deflects much of the criticism levelled against the company in recent years. British Land trades at a greater discount to assets than many of its rivals and some in the City blame this on management. The combined roles chairman and chief executive under Ritblat has been seen as contrary to good corporate governance and Ritblat in particular has been accused of running the company as a personal fiefdom. More recently activist investor group Laxey Partners Ltd has accused the board of losing its way and called for the sale of assets and the return of millions to investors.

In fairness, though, British Land like its quoted rivals, has been hit by falling rents and rising vacancies in London's financial district. But unlike Canary Wharf it is seen as having a better spread of risk through its ownership of major shopping shopping centres like Meadowhall. The company was also one of the first to successfully use complex financing, like securitisation to extract profits from schemes like Broadgate.

AT 15.00 shares had lost some of the earlier gains and fallen back to 417.25p, still up 5.5p on the start of trading.