Rentokil Initial's new management team are in line for a bumper bonus package of shares worth a maximum of £95 million if they succeed in more than tripling the company's share price to more than £2.80 in the next five years.

Rentokil announced today that John McAdam, the chief executive of ICI until it was taken over by Dutch chemicals group Akzo Nobel, would become chairman of the group in May. He brings with him Alan Brown, ICI's chief financial officer for the past two years, as chief executive and Andy Ransom, ICI's head of mergers and acquisitions, who will have boardroom responsibility for corporate development.

Shares in Rentokil climbed as high as 25 per cent at one point to 92.1p as investors welcomed the arrival of the new management team.

At the same time the company confirmed that Brian McGowan, chairman for four years, and Doug Flynn, the chief executive who had tried to put the struggling business back on an even keel since 2005, had resigned with immediate effect and will leave with £1.2 million.

The executives have been lured by a generous incentive scheme which will award shares worth £12.6 million, if the share price has risen to at least £1.80 after three years. A further award, worth potentially £10.5 million, could be paid out if the shares hit the next target of £2.80 within five years.

If the three executives hold all their shares until the share price reaches £2.80 for a sustained period of 60 days, each person would make £31.5 million from the share package - on top of salaries and regular bonuses.

The incentive package has been discussed with major shareholders who reportedly gave their backing but is still set to be voted on at the annual meeting in May where it is likely to rekindle arguments about private equity style executive pay deals.

A spokeswoman for Rentokil said that it was important to set the size of the potential award in context adding that if the share price reached £1.80, a level it has only reached on two occasions in the past three years, the team would have created £2 billion in additional shareholder value. Should the share price reach £2.80, £3 billion of additional value would have been created.

Peter Long, senior independent director at Rentokil who was responsible for bringing in Mr McAdam and his team, today pledged that the business would not be broken up and sold off at a bargain basement price to "bottom feeders" from the private equity world.

Mr Long said that his trio of new recruits were committed to the support services business for the long term and that the board had seized on a unique opportunity to appoint this skilled team. "I'm not interested in talking to bottom feeders who think that they can buy some of the parts of Rentokil on the cheap," he said.

Rentokil has been the subject of break-up speculation since it issued two profits warnings in December and February but Mr Long said there had been no formal approaches from private equity buyers for any of the business although he believed that some potential buyers had been looking closely at the group with a view to an approach.

The company's latest troubles stem from difficulties at City Link, its parcel delivery business. Mr Long said the problems emerged from the "botched" integration of the Target Express parcels business with City Link. Rentokil bought Target Express in 2006.

Mr Long, who will take over the chairman's responsibilities until the company's annual meeting in May, said: "John, Alan and Andy's track records speak for themselves. These guys, like me, come from the old school and create value by growing earnings." Mr Long said that Mr Brown, who spent 25 years at Unilever before joining ICI, would "get under the skin" of the Rentokil businesses to address some of the operational problems within the group.

Under Mr McAdam's leadership, ICI became one of the most successful turnaround stories in recent corporate history, which share price growth of 600 per cent, culminating in its takeover last year by the Dutch chemical group.

Since stepping down from ICI at the start of the year, Mr McAdam has recently been appointed chairman designate of United Utilities, the North West-based water and outsourcing group. He has also joined J Sainsbury and Rolls-Royce as a non-executive director.

Three weeks ago, Rentokil said pre-tax profits fell significantly below 2007’s £142 million after an “unacceptable” performance from City Link - which has been hit by falling consumer spending and poor management.

Times Recommends

• C&G axed - 1,660 jobs to be lost
• UK house prices rise 1.1% as buyers return
• Mixed reaction to US banks repaying bailouts