Senior Renault board member quits ahead of CEO succession meeting

PARIS — Senior Renault board member Thierry Desmarest has resigned from the French car maker, sources told Reuters, days ahead of a meeting at which Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn is asking directors to back his chosen successor’s appointment.

Desmarest’s exit comes amid renewed tensions between Renault and the French government, which has been pressing Ghosn to recruit a second-in-command who could one day succeed him at the helm of the Renault-Nissan alliance.

Former Total CEO Desmarest, whose mandate runs until 2020, told Renault early last week that he was stepping down early, people familiar with the matter said.

His exit closely follows that of Chief Performance Officer Stefan Mueller, which cleared the way for Ghosn to propose his other deputy, Thierry Bollore, as chief operating officer and heir apparent.

A spokeswoman for the French oil giant, where Desmarest remains honorary chairman, declined to comment. The company did not respond to Reuters’ requests to speak to him directly.

A Renault spokesman said: “We do not comment on rumors and speculation.” A French government spokesman did not return calls seeking comment.

At least two directors — other than Desmarest — have raised concerns about the recruitment process and its outcome, sources told Reuters.

“External candidates were not so much as considered,” said a person with knowledge of the matter, even when profiles such as Toyota secondin-command Didier Leroy were put forward by recruitment firms.

Renault placed Bollore atop its shortlist at the start of the process and blocked attempts by the external advisers to bring Mueller, a Germanborn BMW veteran, into serious contention, the source said.

Desmarest, 72, had in any case planned to withdraw from the Renault board after the next shareholder meeting in June, a person close to the former oilman told Reuters. He had served on Renault’s board for a decade and chaired its strategy committee.

“It was going to happen anyway,” the person said. “This is not motivated by polemics or the Ghosn situation.”

But the car maker hurriedly circulated a draft statement among board members on Friday, attributing Desmarest’s sudden exit to a discovered conflict of interest, two sources said. —