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Engie and Veolia give themselves until Monday to decide on Suez

2020-09-30T19:35:40.580Z


INFO LE FIGARO - The board of directors of the energy company met on Wednesday and obtained the deadline required by Bercy.


Until the end of the suspense.

The board of directors of Engie, which began its work on Wednesday at 3 p.m., did not end until around 9 p.m., three hours before the initially scheduled expiry at midnight of the offer to purchase by Veolia of 29 , 9% of the capital of Suez.

Read also:

Suez-Veolia-Engie: under the watchful eye of the State, a month of pitched battle between three French giants

Final negotiations made it possible to loosen the grip of the calendar, as has been publicly demanded for several days by Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy.

Veolia's offer is now valid until Monday evening.

Engie asked Antoine Frérot, the CEO of Veolia, these few days of respite in order to make

“his best efforts”

to unwind the foundation under Dutch law, created last week by Suez to protect its water activity in France and make it non-transferable. .

A

“poison pill”

which complicates the projects of Veolia which intends, for reasons of competition, to sell these activities to the Meridiam fund.

The State, a shareholder of Engie and represented on the board, demanded that a dialogue finally take place, and that open war cease, deemed unacceptable between two French industrialists.

Bercy is also determined to get Suez to renounce this foundation.

"Everyone must take a step"

, they say in the entourage of the minister.

During this period, Veolia will not launch a takeover bid on the remaining 70% of the capital without having received a favorable recommendation from the Board of Directors of Suez

To convince Engie, Veolia presented a revised offer just before the start of the board.

The price has been revised upwards: Veolia offers Engie to buy its shares at 18 euros, against 15.50 euros in the initial proposal.

Or an increase of more than 16%.

The 29.9% of Suez is thus valued at 3.4 billion euros.

This first point allowed the Suez title to jump 5.93% during Wednesday's session, to 15.80 euros.

"This offer, immediate and unconditional, is impossible to refuse for Engie"

, explains a person close to the file.

Veolia has also given guarantees on the

“friendly” nature

of this offer.

The hostile perception of this operation by the leaders of Suez has continued to disturb the public authorities.

Veolia has given firm guarantees on the employment and teams of the future together.

And he now proposes to Suez to

"give itself a period of six months expiring on March 31, 2021, during which the parties will make their best efforts to seek the common bases of an agreement"

.

Clearly, Veolia will not launch, during this period, a takeover bid on the remaining 70% of the capital without having received a favorable recommendation from the board of directors of Suez.

"I have heard the concerns of the public authorities, and in particular Bruno Le Maire and I am eager to prove that my offer has never been hostile"

, explained Antoine Frérot, Wednesday morning.

Secret meeting

The possibility of a consensual conclusion remains low.

Tuesday evening, a meeting which should have remained secret took place, at the request of Bruno Le Maire between the leaders of Suez Philippe Varin and Bertrand Camus, and the CEO of Veolia Antoine Frérot.

It was short, tense, and unsuccessful.

Ironically, it took place in the offices of the law firm Clifford Chance (council of the State Participation Agency) located rue d'Astorg, in Paris, in the historic former headquarters of the Suez Company.

Read also:

Veolia-Suez: new capitalism and old maneuvers

Meeting Wednesday morning to examine the improved offer presented by Veolia, the board of directors of Suez, resolutely hostile to an operation experienced as a dismantling, maintained its position.

“The proposals made today by Veolia do not guarantee the interests of shareholders and stakeholders that the board is responsible for defending,”

said a press release.

Veolia asked Suez, in exchange for six months of negotiations, to deactivate its poison pill.

By promising to help undo this measure, Engie may also have asked Veolia, in the event of failure, to waive this condition and then launch its public offer.

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2020-09-30

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