Countdown to the Fincantieri-Saint-Nazaire operation. The purchase by the Italian group of the historic shipyards of the Loire is in fact decided in these hours, even if the failure of the deal seems ever closer: in fact, by Thursday 31 December Fincantieri should convince the European Union on the fact that the merger with Chantiers de l'Atlantique does not represent an obstacle to competition in the naval sector, as has been repeatedly suggested by Brussels.
But according to the statements made by the press office of the Trieste group, consulted by FIRSTonline, the hopes of a positive outcome would now be reduced to a flicker, and left to choices of a political rather than a technical nature: “We feel we have done everything possible, it is not possible for us to do more”, said Fincantieri, who added that “the decision now can only be a political one, from Brussels or from the governments of the two countries. However, it should be emphasized that collaboration in the military is proceeding satisfactorily and the same will be the case in the future for work on common European defence".
The dispute has been dragging on for years, so much so that the European Commission - noting the delicacy of the dossier and considering the risk of creating a duopoly - has the verdict, initially expected in 2019, was postponed several times, a year after the agreement signed between Fincantieri and Stx France, which provided for the entry of the Trieste group into 50% of the capital, leaving the 1% that would have given the absolute majority in the hands of the French state. This time however, barring further postponements that could be granted by Brussels, the deadline has really expired. For its part, Fincantieri continues to maintain that the competitive comparison must be made on a global scale, given that the epicenter of the naval sector is increasingly China, and that creating a European champion would only bring benefits.
However, Europe can only take note of the fact that the continental players in the construction of cruise ships would thus go from three to two: Saint-Nazaire-Fincantieri and the German group Meyer Werft. The French press is carefully monitoring the situation, given that the Italian operation aroused opposing reactions right from the start: on the one hand, recalls Les Echos, "the same people who cry scandal for the Italians forget that for years Chantiers de l' Atlantique was under the control of a Korean group, STX”.
On the other hand, however, the State was immediately very careful not to give too much space to the Italian group, to protect employment in France and - from its point of view - not to have its know-how "stolen" by Fincantieri, which, moreover, would share it with the Chinese partner CSCC (and this thing was experienced with further suspicion). This is why already after the bankruptcy of Stx, the Korean parent company that controlled Saint-Nazaire, Paris had intervened energetically, acquiring 84,3% of the capital and also leaving a small part (2,4%) to the same employees of the group. In the agreement closed in 2018 (after a long negotiation) with Fincantieri, the French State had reserved the right to formally keep for itself 1% of the 51% that was initially to end up in Italian hands, leaving it only "on loan" and with the right to take it back if Fincantieri did not respect the agreements.
