UPDATE:Senior Government Aide To Join France Telecom Top Management In 2nd Half
07 Maggio 2009 - 11:10AM
Dow Jones News
French finance ministry's chief of staff, Stephane Richard, will
join top management at France Telecom SA (FTE) during the second
half of this year, and is tipped to replace Chief Executive Didier
Lombard when his term ends in 2011.
"Didier Lombard confirms that a procedure has been started to
allow Stephane Richard to join the group's top management committee
in the course of the second half 2009," a spokesman for the French
telecommunications giant told Dow Jones Newswires. Didier Lombard
is very happy about this prospect, the spokesman added.
A senior government official told Dow Jones Newswires late
Wednesday Richard could leave the government as early as mid June
and join the French telecommunications giant in an initial role as
early as September.
French Business daily Les Echos late Wednesday reported Richard
will take over from Lombard in 2011. It said the appointment was
forced through by the government, which holds a 26.7% of the former
state telecommunications monopoly.
According to the report, Richard will first take charge of the
group's international operations, the equivalent of second in
command of the entire company, at the start of next year.
Richard, a wealthy former businessman who is said to be close to
French president Nicolas Sarkozy, would be the second high-ranking
government official to be shifted to head a major French
institution in the past few months.
Sarkozy's former top economic and financial adviser Francois
Perol has been appointed head of the giant French mutual bank
formed by the merger of mutuals Caisse d'Epargne and Banque
Populaire earlier this year.
The government and Perol have come under public scrutiny because
French law restricts moves by government officials directly into
private companies which the official has previously dealt with in a
public capacity.
The French ethics council, which vets moves of government
officials into top jobs in private industry, will hear Richard
Wednesday, Les Echos said.
A person close to senior government told Dow Jones Newswires
Richard's appointment will be approved by the ethics council.
Company Web site: www.francetelecom.com
-By Ruth Bender, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 40 17 17 40;
ruth.bender@dowjones.com
(Geraldine Amiel and Art Mooradian in Paris contributed to this
report.)