BAE Systems names Roger Carr as new chairman

British arms maker BAE Systems appointed on Wednesday business veteran Roger Carr as its new chairman, replacing Dick Olver who came under pressure to step aside after the collapse last year of the company's proposed mega-merger with European aerospace group EADS. Carr, 66, is presently chairman of British energy group Centrica and recently stepped down as president of the CBI, Britain's main business lobbying group. "BAE Systems plc is pleased to announce that Sir Roger Carr...will succeed Dick Olver as chairman in the first quarter 2014, following a transition period," the defence group said in a statement. Olver, who will leave after nine years in the role, had faced pressure to resign from BAE's biggest shareholders after last October's merger collapse. An attempt to create the biggest aerospace and defence group in the world became mired in the quicksand of politics and eventually failed. The dream stopped short when both groups scuppered further talks over irreconcilable differences between the leaders of Britain, France and Germany. BAE's biggest shareholder, fund manager Invesco Perpetual, had in any case publicly opposed plans for a tie-up, arguing that it failed to see the strategic logic of a deal. Following the appointment of Carr, whose name had been widely touted in the media ahead of Wednesday's announcement, BAE Systems' share price was showing a gain of 0.48 percent to 394.5 pence on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was flat at 6,340.82 points compared with Tuesday's close.