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Schroders adds BAE and Google chiefs to board after pay revolt

The FTSE-100 asset manager Schroders (Frankfurt: 929969 - news) will this week name executives from the defence and technology sectors to its board as it recovers from a bruising shareholder revolt earlier this year.

Sky News ‎has learnt that Schroders is lining up Ian King, the chief executive of defence contractor BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) , and Avid Larizadeh Duggan, a partner at Google Ventures, as non-executive directors.

The appointments were still being finalised on Tuesday evening but a City source said at least one of them could be announced as early as Wednesday.

Schroders ‎has been under pressure to strengthen its board after a revolt among external investors in April over Michael Dobson's elevation from chief executive to chairman.

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Such moves contravene corporate governance best practice‎, and prompted about one-third of the non-family shareholders at Schroders to vote against Mr Dobson's appointment.

The recruitment of two new non-executives to the fund management group's board will add significant blue-chip boardroom experience in the shape of Mr King, and a prominent technology industry leader in the form of Ms Duggan.

The BAE chief was previously a non-executive director of Rotork (Frankfurt: RO41.F - news) , the manufacturer.

He is expected to retire from the helm of Britain's biggest defence company in the next 18 months, although his appointment at Schroders is not connected to his prospective retirement from BAE, according to insiders.

Ms Duggan‎ is a former executive at eBay and Skype, and will bring useful experience to a company operating in an industry which is ripe for new technology-led operators.

Schroders said last month‎ that profit before tax and exceptional items in the year to September 30 was only marginally up on the previous year's £453.2m despite a significant increase in assets under management to £375bn from £294.8bn a year earlier.

A Schroders spokeswoman declined to comment on Tuesday.