on Wednesday that Brian Keelan, one of the City of London's best known corporate financiers, will leave UBS Warburg to become the Hong Kong trading group's strategy director.

In a statement, Jardine Matheson said Keelan will join the Jardine Matheson board of directors and will be responsible for corporate finance, including acquisitions, disposals and long-term financing.

"This is an exciting time for Jardine Matheson and Brian Keelan will help us greatly in seizing new opportunities,'' Jardine Matheson Managing Director Percy Weatherall said in a statement. "We have an excellent business platform and I welcome this important addition to our management team.

The move comes a week after Jardine Matheson defeated a proposal from dissident shareholder Brandes Investment Partners that the company scrap its controversial cross-shareholding with Jardine Strategic Holdings and return its listing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

A majority of shares, including the 50 percent owned by Jardine Strategic, were voted against the proposals at Jardine Matheson's May 17 annual meeting in Bermuda.

Brandes argued that the cross-shareholdings keep the group's shares chronically undervalued by making it immune to takeovers and it wanted Jardine Matheson to buy the 26 percent of Jardine Strategic that it does not already own.

Jardine, which operates businesses ranging from property, hotels and construction to retail and motor trading, maintains that cross-shareholdings gives it the stability it needs to grow its businesses in a volatile Asian environment.

Jardine's shares were up five cents to US$5.85 on Wednesday in Singapore trade. They have fallen about 4.3 percent so far this year, but have risen about 32 percent over the past 52 weeks. Jardine Strategic's shares were untraded after closing on Tuesday at US$2.93.

Jardine Matheson Chairman Henry Keswick said in a statement that Keelan has been a "trusted adviser of the group for a dozen years and will now enhance our planning and the implementation of strategic transactions as a colleague''.

The Financial Times said on Wednesday that Keelan's move had prompted speculation that Jardine was considering a shake-up, probably including a re-entry into retail financial services.

Jardine sold out of its financial services joint venture with Robert Fleming in 1999 for a profit of more than $1 billion. It swapped its 50 percent stake in the joint venture for a larger holding in Fleming, which was acquired by Chase Manhattan last year.

The former Jardine Fleming brokerage, investment banking and research operations in Hong Kong are now trading under the J.P. Morgan name.

Keelan, who defended the Co-operative Wholesale Society against a hostile bid from entrepreneur Andrew Regan, declined to comment on Jardine's plans, the FT said.

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