THE millionaire guiding light behind one of the most incredible business success stories in Hampshire is signing out after 26 years at the top.

Alan Wilson - reputedly the highest paid employee in Southampton out of a city workforce of 117,000 - made a fortune by turning the UK arm of Swedish financial services company Skandia into a market sensation.

His vision and drive also generated wealth and job security for thousands of past and present employees in Southampton and other offices in the UK.

Wilson was one of the original founders of Skandia UK, starting out from scratch in 1979 with just 25 staff.

He earned the respect of his peers by famously sealing envelopes as part of the "mucking in" process in the early days and he ensured staff were rewarded through bonuses and company bashes that were the envy of rivals.

The UK arm now employs 1,700 in Southampton, with one million pension, investment and life assurance policyholders. Wilson, who lives near Winchester, hit the headlines for making nearly £9m in performance-related bonuses in the early part of this decade, and at one point had a spell off work because of illness, with Nick Poyntz-Wright taking over.

Such was the high regard in which he was held by investors, Skandia's parent company in Stockholm took the unusual step of publicly reassuring them why Wilson needed the time off in case they got the jitters.

Now back to full health, he officially resigns at the end of the month to concentrate on charitable work.

He had been planning to move on for some time.

Wilson ruled out any intention of being involved in the industry commercially, and it is understood that the timing in "not related" to the £3.4 billion hostile takeover bid by South Africa's Old Mutual.

Wilson said: "After 26 years at Skandia, I feel the time is right to move on. It has been a source of great personal satisfaction to build this company from scratch to become a top ten player in the UK, and I now wish to pursue other interests."

Wilson was one of the group who left Abbey Life to establish Skandia in the UK, becoming managing director in 1991, and chairman in 2002.

He was instrumental in turning Skandia into the fastest growing long-term savings and investment company in the UK and in a 14-year period his strategy saw funds under management soar from £1 billion to £25 billion.

Today Skandia UK, which turned in a £160m profit last year, represents 60 per cent of the Skandia group's new business, compared to ten per cent when Wilson became managing director.

Wilson led the company to look for opportunities outside the UK, resulting in its products being sold throughout Scandinavia as well as globally through Royal Skandia. He said: "I am immensely proud of our achievements and I know they will continue under Nick Poyntz-Wright's leadership. I have developed a keen interest in charitable work and I plan to devote more of my time to this.

"Also, I am fascinated by the socio-demographic, economic and political dimensions surrounding retirement, and have plans to see how I can help shape the future of pension provision."

Managing director Nick Poyntz-Wright said "Alan's contribution not only to Skandia's success, but also to shaping the industry, has been immeasurable."