ALLAN LEIGHTON is to leave his post as chairman of Sir Philip Green’s retail chain BHS, bringing down the curtain on one of the most high-profile business relationships of the last five years.

The former Asda supremo is expected to step down from the part-time, nonexecutive post after Christmas to concentrate on his many other business interests, which include running Royal Mail. He is also a nonexecutive director at BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster in which News Corporation, parent company of The Sunday Times, has a 39% stake, and has a close relationship with the Canadian Weston family, the owner of Selfridges.

The decision to part company comes just months after The Sunday Times revealed that Leighton had been in secret negotiations to buy BHS from Green. However, it is understood that his departure is unrelated to the talks.

Leighton had assembled several banks to acquire BHS and negotiated to buy the company for a number of weeks, but the talks stalled. At the time, sources close to Green said the talks were a one-off and the business was no longer for sale.

In October, BHS reported a 3% rise in operating profit to £50m for the year to March 31, as sales rose 1.4% to £872.5m. A fall in interest charges lifted pretax profits from £42.3m to £49.4m.

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