Saint-Nazaire continues to be at the center of an interweaving between Italy and France. The historic French shipyards, where a few days ago the largest cruise ship in Europe, the MSC Meraviglia, was delivered to the Italian-Swiss MSC Cruises are for months in the sights of Fincantieri, ready to take over the majority stake in Stx France, the company that manages the site on the Atlantic and which until 2016 was Korean-owned. The deal seemed to have closed in April, in the middle of the French electoral campaign, but now the elected president Emmanuel Macron, present on Wednesday at the launch of the 5.700-passenger ship, delivered after more than two years of work, would like to question it.
At least partially, in the sense that Macron would like to renegotiate the pact between shareholders, to increase the weight of the French (between the state and private individuals) in the capital: "I am happy with the Franco-Italian axis, it demonstrates the strength of Europe", said the new tenant of the Elysée who however would like to change an agreement on which Fincantieri had already taken more than a step back, settling for a 48% share (not an absolute majority), leaving the French state with its 33,3% (and related veto powers) and allowing the transalpine group DCNS to acquire 12%. Furthermore, the Italian group has undertaken to confirm the rich carnet of deliveries at least five years from now, and to keep the local workforce intact.
Evidently this is not enough for Macron, who got in direct contact with the Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni on the matter: "The balances defined in April must be reviewed". The crux could be that 6% currently allocated to the CR Trieste Foundation and which would lead to a de facto too “Italian” majority. The alternative scheme, according to some rumors, would see the entry of MSC – which meanwhile confirmed a maxi order worth 4 billion to Stx – and Royal Caribbean, Saint-Nazaire's two main customers, which together could have around 10%. If this were the Elysée's "plan B", an old dot by Macron would in fact come back into vogue who, when he was still Minister of the Economy, had sponsored, albeit not publicly, the formation of a consortium, which in fact never took off, between the two shipowners and the Dutch Damen, in the race to acquire Stx France.
"No controversy, we are sure that we will find common and shared solutions, based on the agreement reached a few weeks ago with a large European industrial operation", commented the Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda. But meanwhile yesterday, after the news, Fincantieri stock lost almost 3% on the stock market, dropping a further 0,2% today, below 0,88 euros per share.
