LogicaCMG, the Anglo-Dutch IT outsourcer, has named BT's head of strategy and operations as its new chief executive, ending a five-month-long search after the former incumbent stepped down after shareholder pressure.

Andy Green, a 20-year veteran of BT and heir apparent to the telecom giant's chief executive Ben Verwaayen, will join LogicaCMG on January 1 next year.

The announcement that Mr Green is taking over at the helm at LogicaCMG sent the group's shares up 8.93 per cent to 164.75p.

Mr Green is widely credited with turning around BT's initially problematic global services division, which eventually became the company's largest revenue generator.

After a reorganisation at BT in May this year, when he was appointed chief executive in charge of strategy and operations, Mr Green was widely tipped as a successor to Mr Verwaayen.

In May, Martin Read, the LogicaCMG chief executive at the time, stepped down after shareholders demanded that the troubled company implement a succession plan after a devasting profit warning.

Dr Read was chief executive for 14 years, first at Logica then at LogicaCMG, which was formed through a merger with CMG, of the Netherlands, in 2002.

In May, Morley Fund Management, the owner of a 2 per cent shareholding in the group, demanded that LogicaCMG put in place a succession plan but that Dr Read should stay on at the group until a replacement was found.

However, Dr Read chose to step down with immediate effect.

Mr Green will take over from Jim McKenna, who was acting chief executive of LogicaCMG.

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