AlcaLu Appoints Ex-Investment Banker as CFO

As another step its Shift restructuring plan, Alcatel-Lucent has appointed former Goldman Sachs investment banker Jean Raby to be Chief Financial and Legal Officer of the company.

Raby will relocate to Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)'s Paris headquarters and assume the CFO role on September 1, replacing current CFO Paul Tufano, who is leaving the company. Raby joins the company after serving as a partner and managing director in Goldman Sachs' investment banking division until late 2012.

Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michel Combes said in a statement that Raby will help the company implement its Shift plan, first announced in June, and "in particular our objectives to reach €1 billion of selective asset sales, €2 billion of debt refinancing, and €2 billion of debt reduction before the end of 2015."

The telecom giant is in the midst of a restructuring plan to focus on growth opportunities, re-evaluate its product portfolio, reduce costs, and shake up its senior management team. A big part of it also requires paying back loans and raising more equity, for which Raby will lead the effort. He is the second outsider the company has hired since announcing the plan. In July it added Philippe Guillemot as Chief Operations Officer. (See Alcatel-Lucent Unveils Shift Plan and Alcatel-Lucent Builds Future Around IP.)

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Light Reading