Carl Henrik Svanberg leaves his post as head of Ericsson to become chairman of BP and is succeeded by the company's finance officer Hans Vestberg.

BP has appointed Carl-Henrik Svanberg, current chief executive of Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson, as chairman of the board of directors, the Brittish oil company said in a statement Thursday morning. He will be succeeded by Hans Vestberg, currently CFO and Executive Vice President at Ericsson, the world’s largest maker of wireless phone networks, who will enter the role January 1, 2010.

Carl-Henric Svanberg will remain in his position until year-end when he takes on his new assignment as chairman of BP, the world's fourth largest company. Svanberg will join BP:s board as chairman-designate and a non-executive director on Sept. 1 and so replace current chairman Peter Sutherlan.

Carl-Henric Svanberg will be based in London, BP wrote in a statement, and will devote the lion's share of his time at the oil company .

“BP is a recognized world leader in the energy sector and it’s a great privilege to be invited to lead its board,” Carl-Henric Svanberg said in the statement. “I’m hugely excited about joining the energy industry, which is so much at the heart of the global economy.”

He will also remain as member of the Ericsson board of directors. However, Ericsson's largest owners, Investor and Industrivärden, hopes that Carl Henrik Svanberg will stay as a long-term member of the board.

"With Carl-Henric Svanberg's leadership, Ericsson has become the industry's most profitable company and its market position has been tremendously strengthened. With Svanberg, the industry's most successful strategy has been developed and implemented", said Michael Treschow, chairman of the Ericsson Board of Directors.

The shift in leader ship comes in a turbulent time as the telecom industry is undergoing an epoch-making technical make over. Hans Vestberg will lead Ericsson in a phase where the transformation of telecom operators' networks and implementation of IP-based services are crucial in order to run the company in the right direction.

Hans Vestberg is 44 years old, born in Hudiksvall and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Uppsala in 1991. He joined Ericsson the same year and was within a short time period appointed to various international managerial positions in China, Sweden, Chile, Brazil and the US.

“Hans Vestberg was early in his career at Ericsson identified as a person with outstanding leadership skills”, said Michael Treschow."He has a proven excellent understanding of Ericsson's business with experience from all different Ericsson business activities".