LONDON (Reuters) - Serco Chairman Alastair Lyons said on Monday he would step down to take responsibility for the debacle at the British outsourcing firm, which has reported a string of profit downgrades and contract failures in recent years.
Lyons, who became chairman in May 2010, said he had rejected calls by his colleagues to stay and would step down once a replacement had been found.
Serco has been rocked by repeated profit warnings, contract problems and investigations into its operations.
Its shares fell 35 percent last week after the group wrote off the value of its operations by 1.5 billion pounds and said it would turn to investors for emergency cash to rebuild the firm.
"The initial findings of the Strategy and Balance Sheet Review point to strategic and operational mis-steps at Serco for which, as Chairman of the board since 2010, I take ultimate responsibility," he said.
(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by James Davey and Louise Heavens)