The CEO of Vinci Xavier Huillard was reappointed on Tuesday at the head of the construction, infrastructure and transport concessions group, but will have to give up his functions as general manager during his term of office, for age limit issues. .
The general meeting voted to renew Mr. Xavier Huillard’s mandate as director for a four-year term, the group said in a press release. This resolution received the votes of 90.79% of voters.
The Board of Directors of Vinci, which met after the general meeting, decided to appoint Mr. Xavier Huillard as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, it being specified that the Board does not intend to propose a modification of the age limits provided for in the articles of association. The functions of Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Xavier Huillard will therefore be separated before the end of his new mandate, the group specified.
Vinci’s current statutes provide for a limitation of 70 years for the functions of Chief Executive Officer, and 75 years for the function of Chairman. Mr. Huillard will celebrate his 68th birthday in June 2022 and will therefore have to leave his position as Chief Executive Officer at the latest at the General Meeting closing the accounts for the year of his 70th birthday, which will be held in the spring of 2025.
During the General Meeting, Yannick Assouad, Chairman of the Appointments and Governance Committee of the Board of Directors, invoked a double reason to support this renewal of Mr. Huillard: firstly, to help the group regain financial performance equivalent that before the crisis.
While some activities, such as Vinci Autoroutes, have already returned to their pre-pandemic performance in 2021, the Vinci Airports branch suffered another loss during the last financial year, as a result of the difficulties in the air sector.
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Another reason given for keeping Xavier Huillard in his chair as CEO is to support the integration of Cobra IS, the energy branch of the Spanish construction group ACS, the acquisition of which by Vinci was finalized in 2021.
We could not propose a new general management of the group during this period of integration of Cobra IS, estimated Ms. Assouad.
Regarding the succession of Mr. Huillard to the general management, she assured that the Appointments and Governance Committee was already concerned: the pool of managers of the Vinci group is important, she declared, seeming to evoke an internal solution to the group.