John McAdam, chief executive of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), is getting ready to defend not one, but two, of Britain’s iconic businesses from takeover bids.

Not only will Mr McAdam be leading ICI’s talks with Akzo Nobel, the Dutch chemicals group expected soon to make a firm bid for it, but he also sits on the board of J Sainsbury, the retailer that looks set to be a target of Delta (Two), a Qatari-backed investment firm.

A sale of ICI would be the final touch to Mr McAdam’s rejuvenation of the chemicals company, the subject of nonstop takeover speculation since its sale of Quest, the flavourings and fragrances business, last November for a bumper £1.2 billion.

Mr McAdam, 57, joined ICI when it bought Unilever’s Specialty Chemicals business in 1997.

Six years later he was promoted to chief executive as a “safe pair of hands”, succeeding Brendan O’Neill, who resigned when the company’s shares fell to a 30-year low after a profit alert.

Mr McAdam embarked on a big restructuring of the business, cutting thousands of jobs, addressing its debt burden and dealing with the crisis in its pension fund.

He is well grounded in the technical side of ICI’s business, having graduated from Manchester University with a degree in chemical physics and, after completing his doctorate, having gained a research fellowship. He joined Unilever as a management trainee in 1974 and held posts in Birds Eye Foods before joining the board of Unilever’s flavours and fragrance business PPF International.

In 1998 he was made chairman and chief executive of ICI Paints, before being promoted to the top job.

Mr McAdam, who has two adult children, was appointed senior independent director of J Sainsbury on September 1, 2005. He is a member of the University of Surrey Business Advisory Board and of the University of Cambridge Chemistry Advisory Board.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax