* Will join on July 24
* Previously with Merrill Lynch International
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - British yellow-pages company Yell has appointed Bob Wigley, formerly the Europe, Middle East and Africa chairman of Merrill Lynch International, as its new group chairman.
Heavily leveraged Yell, which took a 1.3 billion pound writedown in May, mostly for its Spanish operations, said Wigley would join the group on July 24, following its annual general meeting.
Wigley was with Merrill Lynch International until earlier this year and had held a number of senior corporate and investment banking positions. He will replace Bob Scott who said in May he would step down.
Wigley said he had followed Yell since its floatation and looked forward to helping the group through its next phase of development. Yell has been hit in recent years by a steep decline in local classified advertising.
(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Simon Jessop)