(Reuters) - French artificial heart maker Carmat said on Tuesday it had appointed its biggest shareholder Pierre Bastid as the chairman of the board.

Bastid will succeed Alexandre Conroy, who had resigned for personal reasons, the Paris-based company said, adding that the French investor holds 13.5% of Carmat's share capital via LOHAS and Les Bastidons entities.

Since acquiring stake in Carmat in 2016, Bastid has participated in each of the capital hikes carried out by the firm.

"The entire Board and I are fully mobilized alongside the CARMAT teams, and determined to pursue and accelerate the Company's commercial development over the coming months," Bastid said in a statement on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdansk; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)