Movement at the head of the State Participation Agency (APE).
Published in the official journal (JO) on Thursday, a decree confirms the appointment of Alexis Zajdenweber at the head of this organization.
Approved by the Council of Ministers the day before, this decision made him the new commissioner for state holdings.
He succeeds Martin Vial, who left the APE this summer after seven years at its head, leaving his post vacant pending his replacement.
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Close to Emmanuel Macron, Alexis Zajdenweber was until then an economics, finance and industry adviser at the Élysée.
The forty-year-old notably recently passed through Bercy and the APE, where he was director of “
Energy
” holdings, during the mandate of François Hollande.
A portfolio of 125 billion euros
Under the supervision of Bercy, the APE manages the shareholdings of the State shareholder in various strategic companies.
The new participation commissioner will therefore have to work with giants in which the public authorities have invested, such as Renault, Orange, Safran, Airbus, Engie, the FDJ or even EDF.
The figures are enough to make you dizzy: in June 2021, the Agency estimated the value of its portfolio at nearly 125 billion euros, with a market valuation established at 70.3 billion euros.
"
With 83 companies in its portfolio, the Agency is present in different sectors: energy, industry, services and finance, transport
", it specified in its last annual report.
Alexis Zajdenweber will also have to seize explosive files, in a particularly troubled context.
The Agency will indeed have an essential role to play in the 100% renationalisation of EDF, announced by Élisabeth Borne during her general policy speech, and for which Bercy intended to mobilize just under 10 billion euros.
The new Commissioner will also have to take charge of an institution whose role has evolved: “
The role of the State as shareholder can no longer be considered in the same way as it was in 2017. Ecological transition is an imperative
”, indicated, in May, Martin Vial, in our columns, also citing “
economic sovereignty
” as “
major criterion of the State's shareholder policy
”.
