Paris (AFP)

Beneath his phlegmatic airs, Antoine Frérot has proved to be a formidably pugnacious strategist: at the end of an eight-month showdown, the CEO of Veolia has achieved his goals and offers himself his lifelong rival, Suez.

"This project has the force of the obvious" and goes in "the direction of the history", had affirmed Antoine Frérot as of Sunday August 30, 2020, when his group, world leader of water and waste, had proposed to Engie to buy back from him the 29.9% that he held in Suez.

Time proved him right: the two French flagships of environmental services announced on April 12 that they had reached an agreement for their merger, which Mr. Frérot said he was "particularly happy" in a press release.

"The time for confrontation is over, the time for reconciliation has begun", highlighted the 62-year-old CEO - including 30 at Veolia - at first affable but who did not mince words in this legal battle , media and stock market with the management of Suez, whom he accused of wanting to preserve his personal ambitions in defiance of the interests of the group.

By carrying out this operation on Suez, Antoine Frérot succeeded in a coup repeatedly attempted, in particular in 2006 by the former CEO of Veolia Henri Proglio, then allied to the Italian Enel.

“It's a personal victory that goes back a long way, he's been looking for this rapprochement for years and he never imagined it couldn't be done. I would use the words stubbornness and pugnacity to define it. has imposed its pace in this whole affair, "said Emmanuel Autier, Energy partner at BearingPoint, to AFP.

For him, the CEO of Veolia "knew where he wanted to go and he gave himself the means, while having a certain bonhomie and a certain roundness which are qualities more than defects".

"Antoine Frérot was determined to bring this matter to fruition and he carried it to the end", adds Alain Bonnet for FO Veolia, deputy union representative on the group committee.

Christian Chavatte, also FO group union representative, mentions a CEO "rather open to dialogue, courteous and accessible".

- "The perfect robbery" -

"I worked with him a lot when he was water manager in France and continues to work with him. He is one of the rare CAC 40 bosses to participate in group committees. I especially remember that we had built an inter - Emblematic companies in 2008, rather good for employees, which made it possible to harmonize the various collective agreements. It allowed at least new entrants to have the same rights, "he adds.

On the side of Suez, the speech is more bitter: Antoine Frérot "carries out the perfect robbery, he buys 29.9% (of Suez) and he comes out with 70%! He really killed the competitor. He knew how to seize the opportunity , or create it, I hesitate between the two. And he had the necessary networks ", told AFP Franck Reinhold von Essen, CGT secretary of the European works council of Suez.

Joined in 1990 as project manager at the Compagnie générale des eaux (which later became Vivendi Environnement then Veolia Environnement), Antoine Frérot rose through all the ranks until becoming CEO in 2010.

Labeled "dolphin" of Henri Proglio, this polytechnician, engineer of bridges, water and forests, will however take less than a year to emancipate himself from his predecessor whom he had followed for 20 years: he will initiate a radical restructuring of the group. services, in particular via a depreciation of assets for 800 million euros.

In order to reduce the company's debt, it will also refocus it on a smaller number of countries and sell activities, including the emblematic public transport branch.

Antoine Frérot also resisted two landing attempts, a first in 2012 initiated according to the press by Henri Proglio who wanted to put in his place the former minister Jean-Louis Borloo, and a second in 2014 orchestrated by one of his main shareholders, the Marcel Dassault group.

This father of three daughters is also passionate about modern art.

© 2021 AFP