Leisure entrepreneur and head of Punch Taverns, Hugh Osmond, is stepping down as executive chair of to pursue other opportunities.

Osmond will take a less prominent role and become 'increasingly non-executive' in the UK's largest pub chain. The move comes in the run-up to the planned flotation of the separate managed and tenanted pub estates early in 2002.

A spokesperson said that Osmond - who owns just under half of the management's 20 per cent stake in Punch - had become frustrated with being the face of the company, and wanted to show that there was more to the group than his name.

Director of Pizza Express for eight years, Osmond, will 'actively pursue other opportunities, not necessarily in the pub or leisure sector' after the impending birth of his child next month.

Finance director Alan McIntosh is also standing down from the board, and Osmond said that the company was close to appointing replacements. Chief executives Karen Jones and Stephen Lambert continue to head up the separate Punch Retail and Punch Pub companies, totalling 5,050 pubs.