Mitie Group, the London-listed outsourcer, has kicked off a search for a successor to Derek Mapp, its long-serving chairman.
Sky News has learnt that the FTSE-250 company is working with the search firm MWM Consulting on a hunt for Mr Mapp's replacement.
Potential candidates have started being sounded out in the last few weeks, according to City sources.
Mr Mapp has been on the Mitie board since 2017, meaning he would no longer be regarded as being independent for corporate governance purposes from May 2026.
It was unclear on Friday whether he planned to serve until his ninth anniversary or would leave the company sooner.
Under his stewardship, and that of Phil Bentley, the company's chief executive, Mitie's performance has steadily improved in recent years.
The company provides cleaning and security services to major corporate and government clients, and saw a surge in demand from the public sector during the post-election riots which swept across the country.
Among Mitie's contracts are the management of a number of prisons and migrant detention centres.
On Friday afternoon, shares in Mitie were trading at around 117.8p, giving it a market capitalisation of about £1.5bn.
Mitie declined to comment.
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