France’s Engie to designate new CEO in September: newspaper

PARIS (Reuters) – Engie will designate a new chief executive officer in September as the former French gas monopoly pushes ahead with a transformation towards renewable energies and client solutions, executives told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

Earlier this year, Engie’s board of directors decided not to renew the mandate of CEO Isabelle Kocher, at the time the only female boss of a blue-chip company in France, and to put in place an interim management team after months of boardroom infighting.

“We want the CEO job to be filled by year-end, which implies choosing the right candidate in September,” Engie Chairman Jean-Pierre Clamadieu told Le Journal du Dimanche.

The French state has a 24% stake in Engie, formerly known as GDF Suez.

Engie groups together a hotchpotch of businesses with few synergies between them, from a labour-intensive energy services arm to a capital-intensive gas infrastructure unit, and a fast-growing renewables division.

(Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Editing by Paul Simao)