Paul Myners, the chairman of Land Securities and author of a report on fund management transparency, is to become a director in GLG Partners, the British hedge fund that has been fined three times since last year for insider dealing. Mr Myners will join when the group goes public through a US-based reverse takeover.

GLG Partners, which has now been fined twice by France's AMF in two insider trading investigations, will list on the New York Stock Exchange via a takeover by Freedom Acquisition Holdings, a special purpose vehicle that floated in the US in late 2006.

Freedom is paying $1 billion for a 28 per cent stake in GLG with the fund's three managing directors — Noam Gottesman, Pierre Lagrange and Emmanuel Roman — splitting $630 million between them.

Management and outside investors in GLG Partners, one of Britain's largest hedge funds with $20 billion (£10 billion) funds under management, will hold the remaining 72 per cent. GLG will be valued at $3.4 billion when it lists in New York.

GLG's listing follows a spate of fund mangement businesses choosing to go public. KKR, the private equity firm and new owner of Alliance Boots, has retained Morgan Stanley and Citigroup to advise it on a float, following the public debut of Blackstone and Fortress Investment Group.

Mr Myners, also the former chairman of Marks & Spencer, is a director in Freedom and will form part of a nine-strong non-executive committee. In 2001, Mr Myners authored an influential report calling for greater transparency from the fund management industry.

Last week, the AMF fined GLG Partners €1.5 million (£1 million) after it found that Deutsche Bank had improperly passed on information regarding a €1 billion bond issue in 2002 by Vivendi, the French media and telecoms group. The AMF said that GLG was one of four hedge funds that received information on the bond issue.

Last year, the AMF fined GLG €1.2 million while Deutsche Bank was fined €300,000 following a deal involving a bond issue by Alcatel, the French technology business. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined both GLG and Philippe Jabre, a former managing director, £750,000 for insider dealing. GLG did not appeal the FSA fine but it is has already launched an appeal againt the Alcatel penalty and plans to appeal the Vivendi decision.

Mr Gottesman said today that the new company was focused on good corporate governance and that all the documents related to the listing will be publicly available.

GLG was set up in 1995 by three former partners at Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that held a 15 per cent stake in the hedge fund and which has agreed to reinvest some of the proceeds from the listing.

Mr Gottesman, the founder and current co-chief executive at GLG, will keep his current role and become chairman of the combined company's board.

Mr Roman, also the co-chief executive, will retain his current position in the new company. As well as Mr Myners, the nine-strong committee also includes William Lauder, grandson of Estee Lauder and president and chief executive at the American cosmetic company.

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