Foreign name could lead Rolls-Royce

Aerospace and defence group Rolls-Royce will be able to appoint a foreign chairman or chief executive for the first time under plans to be voted on at its annual meeting this week, reports yesterday said.

Nine years ago the government lifted a ban on foreign investors owning a majority of Rolls-Royce or BAE Systems to protect its defence interests, but retained limits on individual foreign shareholdings and required the majority of directors including the chief executives and executive chairmen to be British.