* Marc Dunoyer to become Alexion CEO
* Aradhana Sarin to become finance chief at AstraZeneca
* Current Alexion CEO's future unclear
(Adds detail from statement, background on execs)
June 4 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca will appoint
long-serving finance chief Marc Dunoyer to head Alexion
on completion of its agreed acquisition of the U.S. rare disease
business, it said on Friday.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker agreed in December to buy
Alexion for $39 billion. The company's biggest deal yet gives it
a specialist in rare-disease immunology to add to its
fast-growing cancer medicines unit and a major COVID-19 vaccine.
Dunoyer's proposed switch will allow Alexion's Aradhana
Sarin to move in the opposite direction, becoming AstraZeneca
CFO in the first change to its senior leadership in eight years.
Chief Executive Pascal Soriot and Chairman Leif Johansson have
been in their roles since 2012 and Dunoyer was appointed in late
2013. (https://bit.ly/3vQ1KzF)
London-listed AstraZeneca said Sarin's appointment is
conditional upon completion of the Alexion deal, which was
approved by shareholders last month. Britain and the European
Union are reviewing the deal, which gained U.S. approval in
April.
As well as becoming Alexion chief executive, Dunoyer will
also be appointed chief strategy officer at AstraZeneca. He will
leave the board but continue to report to Soriot.
It was unclear what role current Alexion CEO Ludwig Hantson
would take after Dunoyer's arrival.
AstraZeneca declined to comment and a representative of
United States-based Alexion could not be reached for immediate
comment outside business hours.
($1 = 0.7098 pounds)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru
Editing by Rashmi Aich, Patrick Graham and David Goodman)