"The signing should arrive around February 15, and the finalization of the agreement by April, before the presidential elections on the 23rd". This is what the French Secretary of State for Industry Christophe Sirugue spoke about a month ago, regarding the operation that would see the Italian Fincantieri take over 66,6% of the historic Saint Nazaire shipyards from the Korean group STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, a few kilometers from Nantes, in North-West France.
However, the agreement would not be that close yet, according to reports in the French press which speak of a real stalemate: Paris would like Fincantieri (70% controlled by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) to leave the majority to an indigenous shareholder , view that the State currently already owns 33,4% of the company that manages a site considered strategic for the transalpine industry. However, the Italian group does not want to listen to reasons and according to what Les Echos writes it would have also declined an invitation received from Sirugue for a table with the general staffs of the French shipowner DCNS (which Paris would like to include in the shareholding at all costs), of the Americans of Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited (RCCL) and of the Italian-Swiss of MSC, scheduled in theory for next week.
The French insist on the desire to create "a European entity", more heterogeneous and controlled by the public, Fincantieri instead he fully believes in an investment that would guarantee him absolute control of the company, although currently, according to French legislation, with 33,4% the government has the right to veto changes to the share capital. And above all, even if so far it has not expressed its intention to make use of it, the French State would also have the right of first refusal to eventually become the majority shareholder.
Currently the only sure thing therefore seems to be the postponement of the operation, at least by a few weeks and perhaps, at this point, even beyond the date of the presidential elections (the first round is scheduled for April 23). Paris does not say too much but reiterates its willingness to "have guarantees on jobs, on the conservation of the supply chain and on the protection of French military interests", while appreciating the possibility that Saint Nazaire ends up in the hands "of a European partner". For its part, Fincantieri preferred to close itself behind a "no comment".
