PTC's Hayman picked as CEO for Aveva as it joins up with Schneider

* Hires PTC's COO Craig Hayman to lead enlarged business

* Top five investor backs appointment

* Hayman to take up role from Feb. 19. and be London-based

* Current CEO James Kidd to revert to Deputy CEO, CFO roles (Adds chairman, investor comment, details)

Feb 1 (Reuters) - Britain's Aveva Group (Frankfurt: A1W0MM - news) on Thursday appointed Craig Hayman as chief executive ahead of its tie-up with Schneider Electric (EUREX: SND1.EX - news) , announced in September, which will create an engineering and industrial software group.

Hayman, whose appointment is effective from Feb. 19, is joining from U.S. computer software group PTC Inc (Frankfurt: A1H9GN - news) , where he was responsible for functions ranging from engineering, marketing and sales in his role as chief operating officer.

Aveva, which makes software used to design oil rigs, ships and nuclear power stations, has struggled in recent years in part due to its exposure to oil and gas markets that have been battling a prolonged slump.

The deal with Schneider, which is expected to close later this month, gives Aveva a bigger presence in sectors such as food and beverages and pharmaceuticals as well as in its strongholds in oil and gas, mining, and marine.

Aveva Chairman Philip Aiken said Hayman's more than 30 years of experience in product and sales leadership in enterprise technology would be useful during the integration of Aveva's and Schneider's industrial software businesses.

A spokesman for Schneider Electric declined to comment.

"(Hayman's) a strong appointment and does seem to have very relevant experience in three areas: CAD - computer-aided design - engineering and (he) has successfully managed a large change programme at PTC," said Malcolm McPartlin, fund manager at Kames Capital (Other OTC: CGHC - news) , the fifth-biggest investor in Aveva, according to Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) data.

"As shareholders, we're very supportive of the hire."

Hayman will be based in Britain and will be taking over from James Kidd, who had been appointed as CEO in January 2017. Kidd will return to his former role as deputy CEO and chief financial officer.

At the time of announcing the deal, Schneider and Aveva had said they were looking for new CEO to run the enlarged group in which Schneider will have a 60 percent stake.

Before taking up his post at PTC, Hayman was president of eBay's enterprise business. He has also served in senior leadership positions at IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) .

Separately, PTC confirmed Hayman's departure, but did not comment on its own succession plan. ($1 = 0.7030 pounds) (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Esha Vaish in Bengaluru, Simon Jessop in London and Gilles Guillaume in Paris. Editing by Edmund Blair and Jane Merriman)