Gérard Mestrallet has been quietly celebrating this week, with a few glasses of his favourite Stella Artois beer, the fulfilment of an old dream – merging his Suez group with Gaz de France. The deal has formed a European energy champion and the third most valuable French CAC40 blue chip company after Total and the electricity group EDF.

The son of a Parisian stationer and a graduate of the prestigious Polytechnique and ENA schools was parachuted in as head of Suez 13 years ago. The company was then known as the Compagnie Financière de Suez. After the nationalisation in 1956 of the Suez canal, which it had managed for about a century, the company gradually transformed itself into an unwieldy financial and property conglomerate and by the time Mr Mestrallet arrived had its back against the wall.