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By Sarah Young
LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - British supermarket Sainsbury's said its finance boss John Rogers would become chiefexecutive of Home Retail when it completes a takeoverdesigned to reduce its reliance on food and drink sales.
Sainsbury's 1.4 billion pound ($2 billion) offer for HomeRetail, the owner of electricals to jewellery store chain Argos,was recommended by the Home Retail board in April.
The deal remains subject to regulatory and shareholderapproval with Britain's competition watchdog currently examiningthe tie-up. Sainsbury's hopes to complete the deal in the thirdquarter of the year.
Rogers, who has been Sainsbury's chief financial officersince 2010 and last year was also given control of online andstrategy, will be responsible for combining Sainsbury's non-foodbusiness with Argos.
Sainsbury's is buying Argos to try to accelerate growth bycreating Britain's largest general merchandise retail businessat a time of intense competition in the supermarket sector.
Home Retail said in a separate statement on Friday that itschief executive John Walden would quit when the takeover by thesupermarket is finalised.
Walden could potentially walk away with as much as 5 millionpounds ($7.2 million) in cash and shares depending on what HomeRetail Group's remuneration committee determines for his longterm, performance-linked share awards.
Home Retail is currently checking whether it has overchargedcustomers.
It said on Thursday that it may need to increase a provisionby up to 30 million pounds to compensate financial servicescustomers who were overcharged, taking the shine off its bestquarterly trading report for two years. ($1 = 0.6925 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Keith Weir)