Ananova:

BT has snapped up internet giant Yahoo!'s European finance chief to oversee the partial flotation of its Yell Yellow Pages division.

John Davis, Yahoo! Europe group finance director, is to join Yell as its chief financial officer, reporting to group chief executive John Condron.

A key part of Davis's brief will initially be to oversee the partial flotation of Yell, which BT has reiterated will take place "before the end of the financial year" in March.

BT intends to sell 25% of its stake in the business, which contains the Yellow Pages and Business Pages directories, the Yell.com online directory and the US side of the Yellow Pages group.

Davis will be a key component of a new management team being built up at Yell by BT ahead of the partial flotation.

Before working for Yahoo!, Davis was chief financial officer at publishing group Pearson's New York division, followed by two years as group finance director at its Financial Times Group.

Condron said: "John has first-class credentials for us - working at senior level in an internet business and media groups. We know he will bring a lot to us as we embark on an exciting period in both online and paper directory products."