Philips veteran Kleisterlee takes the chair at Vodafone

Vodafone filled one of the City's highest-profile posts yesterday by appointing the boss of Dutch electronics giant Philips as its next chairman.

Gerard Kleisterlee, Philips' president and chief executive, will take over from Sir John Bond, who will end a five-year reign as the mobile phone company's chairman in July.

The 64-year-old German, who was seen as a forerunner for the coveted role, has spent 37 years at Philips and nearly ten years in the top job. He is considered to be one of Europe's most prominent business leaders.

Bond, 69, who received his knighthood for services to banking following his tenure as chief executive of HSBC, came under fire last year from some Vodafone shareholders over the group's strategy and track record on acquisitions.

Kleisterlee, a married father-of-three who currently lives in Amsterdam, has transformed Philips from a predominantly semiconductor business into a lighting, healthcare and consumer electronics group.

He said: "It is an honour and a privilege to be invited by the board of Vodafone to become its chairman. I am looking forward greatly to this new challenge, to contributing to this company's record of success, and to building on Sir John's outstanding achievements."

Formula One-fan Kleisterlee is the son of one of the first employees at Philips's semiconductor unit, in which he sold an 80 per cent stake to a private equity consortium in 2006 for €8 billion (6.8bn).

Vodafone investors staged a protest vote against the mobile phone giant in July as nearly 7 per cent failed to back the Bond's re-election at its AGM.

The rebel shareholders were led by institutional investor the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, which called for a board shake-up to address "strategic weaknesses". But since then Vodafone has pleased investors by selling minority stakes in Chinese and Japanese operators.