Spire healthcare chief Rob Roger opts to go private with new property role

Change of scene: Rob Roger is leaving healthcare after leading the flotation of the hospitals group last year

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Michael Bow14 March 2016

Spire chief executive Rob Roger is swapping stethoscopes for skyscrapers after quitting the hospitals group for a top job in the property world.

Roger, who led the flotation of Spire in 2014, will ditch life on the public markets in June to go back to run a private-equity-owned firm.

His new role will be revealed this week. Spire said it would be at a “large privately financed property business”.

Spire was previously owned by Cinven. The healthcare firm will replace Roger with chairman Garry Watts for 12 months. Watts was executive chairman for three years until 2014.

Chief operating officer Andrew White will join the board and is considered a contender for the top job when Watts goes back to chairman.

Roger spent most of his career running private-equity-backed firms, with a diverse range of roles at package tour operators, pizza parlours, and waxwork museums.

He was finance boss at First Choice and Pizza Hut in France in the Nineties. He then worked at Madame Tussauds’ owner.