Sanofi poaches former PSA finance boss Chasseloup de Chatillon

PARIS (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi announced it had hired Jean-Baptiste Chasseloup de Chatillon, the former chief financial officer at carmaker and Peugeot-manufacturer PSA who had helped oversee a revival in PSA's fortunes. Sanofi said Chasseloup de Chatillon would become its executive vice-president and chief financial officer, with his position taking effect on October 1, replacing Jerome Contamine who will be retiring. "Jean-Baptiste is an experienced CFO who has been part of the impressive turnaround of PSA Group," said Sanofi chief executive Olivier Brandicourt in a statement. PSA had posted a series of record earnings results over the last two years, having rebounded from a 2012 brush with bankruptcy, and Chasseloup de Chatillon had been a member of Peugeot's managing board since 2012. Chasseloup de Chatillon will arrive at Sanofi at a time of blockbuster deals within the global healthcare industry. Sanofi has already struck two major takeover deals this year, buying haemophilia specialist Bioverativ for $11.6 billion and acquiring Ablynx, which is developing a prized experimental drug for a rare blood disorder, for 3.9 billion euros ($4.5 billion). The transactions marked a return to successful deal-making for Sanofi after failures to land major takeovers since 2011, when it bought U.S biotech company Genzyme for around $20 billion, although some investors have questioned the costs. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Bate Felix)