Vivendi has chosen group COO for telecoms, Jean-Yves Charlier, as the next CEO of French operator SFR, Les Echos reports, citing unnamed sources. Barring a last minute change of heart, his name will be put forward for the post at Vivendi’s 30 April AGM. Charlier will succeed Stephane Roussel, Michel Combes, Jean-Bernard Levy and Frank Esser as the head of SFR. He will be the highest executive officer, with Stephane Roussel staying on a non-executive chairman. The Belgian national previously ran a division for BT in the UK and was COO at US operator Colt Telecom.
Roussel is expected to have other responsibilities as well. Jean-Rene Fourtou is said to have already tasked Roussel with finding a new Vivendi chairman, a role assumed by Jean-Francois Dubos last June. He is due to retire by the end of the year. The AGM is expected to be lively, coming a year after asset disposal plans were announced. Neither SFR nor GVT found a buyer and Maroc Telecom’s sale process is ongoing.
A key figure will be French media magnate Vincent Bollore, who owns 5 percent of Vivendi, and joined the supervisory board in December. Les Echos adds that Marc Taieb, a Bollore executive, has just joined SFR’s executive board. Vivendi deputy CFO Sandrine Dufour is tipped to become SFR’s CFO.
