Ian Coull quits to spark Segro succession struggle

Coull, who joined Segro in 2003 and turned 60 in June, is to become chairman of contractor and housebuilder Galliford Try in July.

Finance director David Sleath and UK boss Ian Sutcliffe are seen as the leading internal candidates to replace him, although Segro will also look outside the business for a possible successor.

Segro now boasts a vast £5.3 billion portfolio of industrial assets — including about £1.1 billion in sheds and warehouses around Heathrow airport — after the business was reshaped under Coull's stewardship.

A huge programme of disposals saw Coull shed US assets as well as getting rid of the company's UK shopping centres to concentrate on industrial markets in the UK and Europe.

"We have transformed the business over the past few years — it has come from being a sleepy, unfocused company with assets all over the world to a very focused industrial company," Coull said.

Coull — a former director of Sainsbury's who earned £1.06 million last year in salary and bonuses — also pushed through the takeover of debt-laden rival Brixton last year at the bottom of the market.

He pulled it off with a £250 million fundraising just months after Segro raised £524 million to shore up its finances amid plunging property prices.