David Newlands is set to replace current non-executive chairman Martin Knight in August 2016.

David Newlands will join Imperial Innovations as non-executive chairman from the start of August.

The UK-listed investment firm, in which Imperial College London still holds a sizeable stake having previously floated its technology transfer unit in 2007, said Martin Knight would be stepping down as non-executive chairman and director on 31 July.

Knight said: “His [Newlands’] extensive business background will be invaluable and is highly relevant to Innovations and its maturing portfolio companies.”

Nearly 70, Newlands has been a serial former chairman, including at OB10, PayPoint, Tomkins, Britax International, Darty (formerly Kesa Electricals) and HellermannTyton.

Newlands has also previously been group finance director of UK-listed GEC, and a non-executive director of London Regional Transport, the Standard Life Assurance Company and the Weir Group.

He had been chairman of private equity firm Doughty Hanson’s HellermannTyton since February 2013 and led its initial public offering a month later. Two years later, Delphi Automotive acquired the company for $1.7bn.

However, he caused controversy as chairman of Tomkins. The £2.9bn, 325p-a-share offer for Tomkins from Pinafore Acquisitions – a vehicle created by Toronto-listed private equity group Onex and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board – in 2010 was opposed by David Cumming, the head of UK equities at Tomkins’ shareholder Standard Life.

At the time Cumming said: “In contrast to comments from [Tomkins] chairman David Newlands [who stood to make a reported £1m from the sale], we do not expect the majority of shareholders to support a deal whose valuation of the company is, without a shadow of a doubt, too low, and also provides massive incentives to the outgoing management team to deliver returns to private equity rather than to current shareholders”.

The takeover went through and in July 2014 private equity firm Blackstone Group agreed to acquire the Gates Corporation, the largest division of Tomkins from Onex and CPP for $5.4bn.