The Financial Times has examined the position that Engie currently finds itself in, after enduring a “hard crisis” in the words of its chairman Jean-Pierre Clamadieu. Last year saw the company replace its chief executive, cancel its dividend, change its strategy and kick off a corporate fight over the sale of its stake in French group Suez. Its new CEO, Catherine MacGregor, a former executive at oilfield services group Schlumberger, takes the reins this month, and will be looking to make the company grow in areas “where we expect it to happen” in the words of Mr Clamadieu. Engie still has plans to sell certain of its assets, including its customer services business (which employs 74,000 of its 170,000 workers) as it looks to simplify its structure, which currently has 27 business units across 70 countries. In theory, this will make the company easier to manage and to plan for, as well as raise money for investment in renewable energies, where it sees its future growth. However, according to analysts, it will also carry a risk of making the company more ripe for acquisition. Mr Clamadieu, however, believes that even with some simplification, Engie will remain too complex a business to be seen as a takeover target, with any acquiring company only being interested in a small part of Engie.