By Sinead Cruise and Amy-Jo Crowley
LONDON (Reuters) -London Stock Exchange Group said on Thursday its group Chief Financial Officer Anna Manz would relinquish her role next year to take a similar position outside the financial industry.
Manz will remain in her job and serve as a member of the LSEG board until May 2024 as part of her notice period. LSEG Chairman Don Robert said the search for a successor to Manz, who has held the position since November 2020, was underway.
"Anna has made an outstanding contribution to the transformation of LSEG. I wish her every success for her next chapter," LSEG CEO David Schwimmer said in a statement.
Manz, who joined the exchange and data analytics group from Johnson Matthey (LON:JMAT), succeeded David Warren after he retired. News of Manz's decision to depart LSEG comes just weeks before Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Inc's Satvinder Singh joins as head of its data and analytics unit in July.
LSEG shares opened down 0.8% before recovering ground to trade flat, compared with a 0.38% fall in the benchmark FTSE 100 index.
Investors and analysts had expected Manz to play a leading role in accelerating the transformation of the company following its $27 billion acquisition of Refinitiv from the Thomson Reuters/Blackstone consortium in January 2021.
LSEG is pursuing a plan to buy back its own stock from the consortium, in a directed buyback programme expected to total 750 million pounds ($947 million) by April 2024.
The group is also continuing an on-market buyback programme, also expected to total 750 million pounds, with the latest transaction struck on Thursday, the group said separately.
In a note to clients on May 11, Jefferies analysts said it was likely the consortium would press ahead with a fresh placing of LSEG stock it is eligible to sell after its current lock-up expires on June 6.
"With interest levels in the stock building and our recent conversations suggesting considerable room for investors to add to positions, we would view this as a constructive event for the shares," the note said.
The traditional exchange activities of the LSEG, which pays Reuters for news, date back more than 300 years.
($1 = 0.7923 pounds)