At Vinci, Xavier Huillard takes field, a page turns

The CEO of Vinci Xavier Huillard leaves the general management of the BTP giant on Thursday, energy, and concessions of airports and highways, after a general meeting of shareholders which should initiate the succession process by appointing the board of directors Pierre Anjolras, from Vinci Construction.

A few weeks before his 71st anniversary, Mr. Huillard will at least keep the group’s presidency, of which he is a pure product and which which has been shaped since 2010, has become the CEO.

Ce “Old sea wolf that does not fart”According to a wise observer from the French entrepreneurial world, marked Vinci to the point that he identifies with the group and refuses the interviews who do not talk about it, according to those around him.

“It is a group that has no equivalent in the world and which owes a lot to Xavier Huillard”only the second boss since the company’s creation in 2000, after Antoine Zacharias, notes the observer.

Coming from a myriad of building companies, Vinci entered in 2002 in the court of “World giants” From the CAC40 index alongside Totalenergies, Saint-Gobain, Hermès or LVMH.

Also admitted in the world of heritage: on March 25, Mr. Huillard laid the first stone of the reconstruction site of the arrow of the Saint Denis basilica, dismantled in 1845 following a hurricane, whose group with blue-white-red cranes has become the “Grand Mécène”. Vinci has also renovated the Gallery of Glaces of the Palace of Versailles or more recently the trenches of the Museum of the Great War of Meaux.

“Precursor”

The action of Xavier Huillard mainly focused on the diversification and internationalization of the construction group, via two strategic axes: the very lucrative highway and airport concessions, and energy. In this area, it was “Precursor” With its COBRA IS subsidiary which installs solar fields or high tension lines all over the world, before its Bouygues and Eiffage competitors, underlines Vincent de la Vaissière, president of the VCOMV communication firm.

A unique model, sometimes criticized by the left press. In 2016, the magazine Le Monde Diplomatique saw Vinci a “Archetype of the public procurement predator” Who “Play on two tables to garner profits”: “The rapid return on investment of its construction activity and long -term management annuities”.

Under the leadership of Mr. Huillard, the group has indeed become the leading world airport operator, with more than 70 airports operated in 14 countries, including the three Japanese of Kansai, Osaka and Kobe.

And its highway concessions represent 43% of its net income when they weigh only 9% of its turnover, by making the “Group’s milk cows”according to Hervé Maurey, centrist senator of Eure, in a report on record profitability of motorway companies published in October 2024.

Pierre Anjolras, 59, who carried out the absorption of the road manufacturer Eurovia by Vinci Construction, was appointed Operational Managing Director in May 2024 for a tile, a soft transition, alongside Xavier Huillard.

Its most important challenge will be “To exist” According to Mr. de La Vaissière, both in front of his internal barons, and in front of his competitors. He will also have to manage the delicate renewal of highway concessions in France, whose contracts with the State expire from 2031.

Thursday, the general meeting is to vote for a resolution so that Mr. Anjolras joins the board of directors.

After the GA, a first council will meet, responsible for dissociating the functions of president and director-general, entrusting the first to Xavier Huillard, and the second to Pierre Anjolras, said the group on Wednesday evening. The two appointments must take effect on May 1.