Grove resigns to go private

Eric Grove has resigned from his non-executive post on the main board of Alfred McAlpine to concentrate on "private business affairs". He has also quit the housebuilding and special projects subsidiaries of McAlpine's construction division.

Grove was arrested in May after the Inland Revenue raided McAlpine's offices in London and the Midlands, taking away thousands of documents. He remains on police bail but has not been charged.

Worth more than œ50 million, Grove is one of the 500 richest people in the Britain and is McAlpine's largest private shareholder with a 10% stake.

In 1988 McAlpine bought the Canberra group, a family housing firm in which Grove was the majority shareholder. Details of the deal remain a mystery as the records have gone missing.

Graeme McCallum, md of Alfred McAlpine Homes and a main board director of the McAlpine group, returned to work on Monday. He was arrested by police at the same time as Grove and has been on extended leave for eight weeks.

"He was arrested but not charged," said Garry Forster, McAlpine company secretary. "He was bailed to reappear this month but at the beginning of July was released from his bail conditions."