Lord Howard of Penrith, the chairman of AIM-listed investor Lewis Charles Sofia Property Fund has stepped down from his role with immediate effect.

He has been chairman of the company from its admission to trading on AIM in September 2005. Lord Howard will be replaced by Charles Burton.

Burton is joining from the Experian Group where he was global managing director of the business strategies division since 2002.

Lewis Charles said Burton’s role at Experian included ‘widespread exposure to the property investment sector, for which the division supplies data, forecasts and due diligence on portfolios and individual sites throughout Europe.

Burton is also a member of the Scottish Executive's Economic Consultants' group and a Fellow and former Treasurer of the Society of Business Economists.