Claude Bébéar, the grandfather of French finance and one of Jean-Marie Messier's most public critics in recent months, has engineered a coup by Axa at Vivendi Universal which has installed three Axa directors in the top three positions after a boardroom reshuffle.

Bébéar, chairman of the supervisory board at Axa, has helped install Jean-René Fourtou, an old friend and fellow board member at Axa, as Messier's replacement as chairman and chief executive of Vivendi. Bébéar also earned himself a place on the board at Vivendi and will head a new financial committee to deal with the group's short-term financial and liquidity problems. Henri Lachmann, head of Schneider Legrand and another Axa board member, will head a new strategy committee at Vivendi.