UPDATE 3-Latecoere eyes consolidation under new chairman

* Aerospace firm recruits former French utility chief

* Aims to participate actively in sector consolidation

* Latecoere first-half net 0.4 mln euros vs 9.7 mln yr ago (Adds first-half results, debt, paragraph 14)

By Tim Hepher

PARIS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - French aerospace supplier Latecoere (LAEP.PA) named a veteran business heavyweight as its new chairman on Tuesday with a brief to pursue consolidation.

Debt-laden Latecoere, which makes the passenger doors for the Boeing (BA.N) 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus (EAD.PA) A380, said former utility chief Pierre Gadonneix would take over from Jean-Claude Chaussonnet, who has been in the job for a year.

Chaussonnet will stay on as deputy chairman.

"Together we will build an industrial framework which gives a dynamic outlook for the staff and shareholders of Latecoere," Chaussonnet said in a statement, adding Latecoere would participate "actively" in aerospace consolidation.

France's fragmented aerospace supply chain is already on merger watch, with state-controlled aero engine maker Safran (SAF.PA) trying to draw reluctant aircraft parts maker Zodiac (ZODC.PA) into a friendly takeover deal. [ID:nLDE67T1FR]

After signing a debt restructuring deal with its banks, Latecoere told shareholders in May its liquidity was assured until 2011 and that it was looking for industrial partners.

In 2008, Latecoere tried but failed to buy two French plants from Airbus (EAD.PA) following the plunge in credit markets.

Gadonneix, 67, a Harvard-educated industrialist and former energy czar, was for years one of France's leading business figures. After moulding energy policy as an adviser, he headed utilities Gaz de France and then Electricite de France.

He was reported to have been nudged out of the EDF (EDF.PA) role after embarrassing President Nicolas Sarkozy by calling for unpopular rises in electricity prices.

The transition by one of France's top industrialists, albeit retired, from a company worth more than 50 billion euros to one worth just 50 million will be scrutinised for evidence that Latecoere is putting itself up for sale.

French newspaper La Tribune reported earlier that the company aimed to strike a deal within two years, and had sought a new chairman with clout after receiving expressions of interests from several possible buyers, which it did not name.

Latecoere declined to comment ahead of a news conference scheduled for 0700 GMT on Wednesday.

Besides continuing delays in deliveries of the A380 superjumbo, Latecoere has been hit by delays to the Boeing 787, a business jet contract dispute and the relatively weak value of the dollar against the euro.

In a separate statement, Latecoere posted a first-half net profit of 0.4 million euros, down from 9.7 million in the same period last year as currency charges cancelled a nearly twofold rise in operating profit. It said net debt had been trimmed by 8 million euros since end-2009 to 351 million euros at end-June.

Trading at six times estimated 2011 earnings, Latecoere shares have fallen 11.3 percent so far this year but have outperformed the French market .SBF120 by about 15 percent.

Latecoere closed down 1 percent at 5.77 euros on Tuesday.

About 22 percent of Latecoere's capital is owned by a trio of investment funds, with 15 percent held by staff and the rest freely traded, according to the company's website. (Editing by Will Waterman and Tim Dobbyn)