"
Any offer can always be improved
", estimated Sunday the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, two days after the statements of the boss of Engie who deemed unsatisfactory the price offered by Veolia to buy the shares of his group in Suez .
Read also: Veolia's offer on Suez: Engie wants to raise the stakes
“
We look at Veolia's offer or other offers that may come (by setting) three imperative conditions with a concern for fairness: employment;
the French industrial footprint and the majority French shareholders;
and heritage enhancement
”, he reaffirmed in an interview with Europe1 / Les Échos / CNews.
French giant of 40 billion euros
Asked whether he considered “
satisfactory
” the “
value proposed by Veolia
” in its proposed takeover bid for Suez, he replied “
any offer can always be improved
”.
Last Sunday, Veolia CEO Antoine Frérot announced an offer to buy back most of its shares (29.9%) in Suez to Engie for 2.9 billion euros.
It is supposed to be followed, in a second step, by a takeover bid on the rest of the shares.
Its ambition: to build the "
world champion of ecological transformation
", a French giant weighing more than 40 billion euros.
But on Friday the president of Engie Jean-Pierre Clamadieu affirmed his intention to raise the price, declaring on BFM Business "
the account is not there
".
He called on Veolia to review the content of his project and said he was ready to study an alternative plan that Suez management could present to him, while calling on the two parties to “
dialogue
”.
Read also: Call for a two-hour walkout on Tuesday at Suez against Veolia's offer
For his part, the Managing Director of Suez Bertrand Camus adopted an offensive tone to denounce the Veolia project, in a message to employees, estimating Veolia's approach “
neither friendly nor relevant
”, evoking risks “
major risks and uncertainties strong, in particular on our teams, our jobs, the future of our Water activities in France
”.
The project provides for Veolia to immediately sell the water branch of Suez to an investment fund, Meridiam, to avoid finding itself in a monopoly situation in this area.
