The new CFO from 2 January will be Christophe Caudrelier, currently a partner at private equity firm Tikehau Ace Capital Partners.
Eutelsat’s CEO Eva Berneke said: “I believe that Christophe’s experience in strongly business-oriented finance and his international background will be valuable assets for Eutelsat.”
His appointment follows the announcement by Sandrine Téran that she is stepping down as CFO to move on to other professional projects. Téran said in September she would step down by the end of November to “pursue other professional endeavours” after almost six years with Eutelsat.
Caudrelier’s previous roles have been with automotive parts supplier Valeo, Naval Group – a French company involved in naval defence design, development and construction – and Bénéteau, a French sail and motor boat maker.
Jacques Aschenbroich, CEO of Valeo, is also chairman of Orange.
Caudrelier then became operating partner, finance, at Tikehau Ace Capital Partners, which specialises in aerospace, defence and cybersecurity and has more than €1 billion in assets under management.
Caudrelier said: “I am very pleased and proud to join Eutelsat as chief financial officer. I look forward to contributing to the future of Eutelsat’s video and connectivity businesses and to its ambitious strategic roadmap as part of the telecom pivot.”
It is just two weeks since Eutelsat signed final approval for its merger with OneWeb to be completed, paving the way for the closure of the transaction in Q2 or Q3, 2023.
Eutelsat and the main shareholders of OneWeb including the UK government, Bharti Airtel and Softbank agreed to the merger, which is largely expected to result in Eutelsat’s senior management taking over responsibility for the whole operation.
However, the merger is still subject to agreement of Eutelsat shareholders in an extraordinary general meeting to be held in the second or third quarter of 2023.
Eutelsat’s CEO Eva Berneke and its chairman Dominique D’Hinnin will be in charge of the combined satellite company when it takes over OneWeb by the end of June 2023, the companies said in July.
