Mulcahy's plan for life after Kingfisher 'is to emulate Philip Green buy-out'

Sir Geoff Mulcahy wants to "do a Philip Green" and make millions buying up an undervalued asset, close friends of the Kingfisher chief executive say.

Associates of the Kingfisher veteran, who is to leave the company later this year, say he still has a hunger for success and wants to make "serious money" from a buy-out. They say he has been fascinated by the success of Philip Green, who paid just £200m for Bhs two years ago and has transformed the high street retailer into a company worth close to £1bn. Mr Green revealed last month that he was paying himself a dividend of £165m.

Sir Geoff, aged 60, is already wealthy, having earned £1m a year at Kingfisher for almost a decade. However, friends say he is unlikely to walk away from the retail scene when he leaves Kingfisher. "He's a fantastic operator and retailing is in his blood," one associate said. "I can't seen him going away to sit on a beach somewhere."

Sir Geoff is expected to leave Kingfisher after the B&Q and Comet group has acquired the remaining stake in Castorama, the French DIY business. That moved nearer over the bank holiday weekend, when a French court named NM Rothschild as the independent bank which will rule on the fairness of the UK company's £3.2bn bid.

Kingfisher is seeking a new chief executive to succeed Sir Geoff and is also on the look-out for new non-executive directors. One possible candidate for a non-executive post may be Jim Hodkinson, who was ousted as chief executive of the New Look fashion chain after pinching a female colleague's bottom at an industry dinner. Mr Hodkinson was head of B&Q for years and already sits on the board of its business in Taiwan.

However, it is possible that Francis Mackay, Kingfisher's chairman, may bring in fresh faces with no previous links with the old Kingfisher regime.