Sanofi said Chasseloup de Chatillon would become its executive vice-president and chief financial officer, with his position taking effect on October 1, replacing Jérôme 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 hemophilia specialist Bioverativ for US$11.6 billion (RM46.4 billion) and acquiring Ablynx, which is developing a prized experimental drug for a rare blood disorder, for 3.9 billion euros (RM18 billion).

The transactions marked a return to successful deal-making for Sanofi after failures to land major takeovers since 2011, when it bought US biotech company Genzyme for around US$20 billion (RM80 billion), although some investors have questioned the costs.