PARIS (Reuters) – French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the government has chosen the person who will lead the government authority group EDF (EPA :), which is in the process of being fully nationalised, and that a nomination is “imminent”.
EDF has had problems this year and issued an earnings warning earlier this month. An unprecedented number of reactor outages, caused in part by corrosion problems, has pushed French nuclear power production to a historic low as Europe seeks alternative supplies of Russian gas.
Le Maire also told France Inter radio that the top job at the EDF could be divided into two separate positions, chief executive and president.
“A doctrine … has always been to separate the role of the president from that of the chief executive. I don’t understand why this would not be the case for EDF,” he said.
The French state plans to buy the remaining 16% of EDF it does not already own in order to fully nationalize the EDF. EDF’s longtime Chairman and CEO, Jean-Bernard Levy, is also slated to be replaced.
Sources said Luc Raymond, CEO of Schneider Electric (EPA:), is expected to get the CEO job.
On Monday, Les Echos directed Claude Emauvin, President of the Orano Nuclear Fuel Group, for the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors.
An EDF source said Imauven’s background and training, including education at Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines, was an advantage.
Sources also mentioned Laurence Pariso, currently Citi’s president in France, as the first candidate for the role.
EDF and Schneider Electric declined to comment on the situation regarding the hunt for a new chief at EDF. Officials in Orano could not immediately be reached for comment.
