PARIS, January 9 (Reuters) – Christel Heydemann, director of Orange and boss of Schneider in Europe, could be the favorite among the candidates to succeed Stéphane Richard at the head of the French telecoms operator, reports the daily Les Echoes in its forthcoming Monday edition.
The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, would be particularly inclined to defend the candidacy of Christel Heydemann and would have informed the President of the Republic “, writes the newspaper.
Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported last week that Orange’s internal selection committee had shortlisted three candidates to replace the resigning CEO of the French telecoms giant, Stéphane Richard, who was convicted on appeal in the case of the arbitration between Bernard Tapie and Crédit Lyonnais.
These three candidates are Ramon Fernandez, current CFO of Orange, Christel Heydemann and Franck Boulben, a former Orange currently manager at Verizon in the United States.
The last word to designate the person who will succeed Stéphane Richard after January 31 falls to the State, which retains control of the main appointments of the governance of Orange thanks to its controlling stake of 23%. (Written by Claude Chendjou, with the contribution Mathieu Rosemain and Tangi Salaün)