French head of British subsidiary heads for the Alps to be replaced by man in charge of Paris area

Pascal Minault, chairman of Bouygues UK, will leave his post in June after six years in the job.

He will be replaced by Madani Sow, a 52-year-old French national who is currently managing director of Bouygues鈥� private sector construction in the greater Paris region.

Sow, who holds a master鈥檚 degree in mathematics, will also become chairman of Warings, the Portsmouth-based contractor that Bouygues bought in December for 拢30m.

It is understood that Sow arrived in the UK on Monday to begin a month鈥檚 handover. Minault declined to go into details about his next role, but it is believed that he will head up Bouygues鈥� operation in Switzerland.

It is understood that Bouygues approached Minault about the move and his family were keen to return to a French-speaking country.

He said: 鈥淢y time in the UK has been positive. We鈥檝e been profitable while diversifying and strengthening the presence of the Bouygues brand.鈥�

Over the six years, turnover has grown from 拢100m to 拢600m.

Minault pointed to the Warings deal as an example of how Bouygues had enhanced its reputation but refused to be drawn on which firms may be acquired next.

He said: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 give you names but we鈥檝e been very open about our plans to expand organically and through the acquisition of regional UK companies.鈥�

Asked whether Bouygues, which turns over 拢22bn worldwide, would consider a larger UK player such as Costain, he said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a priority for us.鈥�

Minault said the next 鈥渂ig thing鈥� for Bouygues UK would be to hit the 拢1bn-turnover mark, although 鈥渢here is no target date鈥�.

Madani Sow鈥檚 CV

1981 Joined Bouygues Construction International as a site engineer at Riyadh university in Saudi Arabia
1987 Moved to Bouygues Construction Greater Paris
1995 Made chief executive of Bouygues subsidiary Screg Construction
2005 Already head of private sector construction in greater Paris, he took over control of residential accommodation.