has resigned in a surprise move, the Financial Times has reported.

Mr. Nigel Rich, who became "tai-pan'' of the company in 1989, will be replaced by Mr. Alasdair Morrison, the managing director of Hong Kong Land, the company's Bermuda-based property arm.

Mr. Rich will step down in March, 1994 and it is thought likely he will return to London, where he may be offered a role in Trafalgar House, in which Hong Kong Land took a 25 percent stake earlier this year.

The Financial Times said Mr. Morrison has long been seen as Mr. Rich's heir apparent and predicted there would be little change in the management strategy of the group, which is strongly influenced by its largest single shareholder, the Keswick family.