“There are still some problems to solve, but Fincantieri is the best solution for Stx: Italian investments are welcome in France”. With these words, spoken at the Ambrosetti workshop in Cernobbio, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire reopened after the deal closed which would see the Italian naval group take over an important stake (the majority, Fincantieri would like, or a little less according to the transalpine wishes) of the French company that manages the historic Saint-Nazaire facilities, on the Atlantic, and which until last year was controlled by the Korean Stx Offshore & Shipbuilding.
Le Maire, also announcing a bilateral meeting with Pier Carlo Padoan anticipated on 11 September in Rome (in recent days there was talk of a Macron-Gentiloni summit on 27 September), he then specified that "France's decision, taken at the end of July, to exercise its right of first refusal (it is a 33,3% shareholder, ed ) blocking the deal with Fincantieri was only temporary, because Stx is a strategic company. But now the agreement is possible”.
“In recent weeks there has been some misunderstanding with Italy – admitted the French Economy Minister, that a few weeks had not ruled out looking at other possible buyers – but it will be resolved because the relationship between the two countries is excellent and we must join forces. We need a stronger Europe, and Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are working in this direction”. The France-Germany axis is mentioned several times in his speech by Le Maire, who does not name Gentiloni even if in this case the story is all Italian-French.
Fincantieri's acquisition of Saint-Nazaire, also known as the Airbus of the seas, is no small deal: the French company has an order book of 12 billion, a turnover of 1,4 billion, 500 related companies and 2.600 employees, who would not even view the Italian solution negatively, since the group led by Bono has already guaranteed both the maintenance of jobs and the confirmation of an all-French management.
The hypothesis now, already proposed by Le Maire himself even if not expressly confirmed in the Cernobbio audience, is that of an all-out agreement which also includes military cooperation. This should go well for Fincantieri, given the already existing synergy with France on that front as well, through a program for the design and construction of new destroyers and the partnership for the construction of the FREMMs, the ships of the European multi-mission frigate.
