* Philips Lighting CEO Rudy Provoost to leave end Sept.
* Philips looking for successor
* Provoost is 4th top executive to leave in past year
* Provoost to move to Rexel's board, to be chair in 2012
(Adds details, analyst comments)
AMSTERDAM, May 3 (Reuters) - Philips Electronics announced the departure on Tuesday of another seasoned top executive, lighting head Rudy Provoost, who will move to the board of Rexel where he will become chairman in 2012.
Provoost's exit follows a wave of management departures at Philips, including the head of consumer electronics Andrea Ragnetti last April and more recently former chief executive Gerard Kleisterlee and financial officer Pierre-Jean Sivignon.
Provoost, 52, has held top jobs at Philips for more than a decade, and three years ago became the head of its key lighting sector, which is facing headwinds from budget cuts and a construction market still in recovery.
New chief executive Frans van Houten, a restructuring expert who took over as ceo last month, started his tenure by hiving off the loss-making TV business and has made it clear he's looking to expose any other "laggards".
ING analyst Sjoerd Ummels said Provoost's exit is disappointing, particularly after the departures of other top executives. Provoost is also widely respected and has considerable weight on the management board, said Ummels.
Provoost will become Rexel's chairman in February 2012 to replace current chairman and CEO Jean-Charles Pauze.
Theodoor Gilissen analyst Jos Versteeg said he understood why Provoost would leave Philips to become CEO at Rexel as he did not have the opportunity to be CEO at Philips following the appointment of van Houten.
Steve Rusckowski, the firm's healthcare head, and Gottfried Dutine, head of markets and innovation, are the only remaining top executives from the Kleisterlee era.
Philips said a replacement for Provoost will be announced in due course and a spokesman would not say whether Philips would prefer an internal or external candidate.
Philips is the world's biggest lighting maker, a top three hospital equipment maker and Europe's biggest consumer electronics producer. It competes with General Electric and Siemens in the hospital and lighting markets and Samsung and LG Electronics among others in consumer electronics. (Reporting by Roberta B. Cowan; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)