Italy and France have reached a
deal on Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri's takeover of the
French STX shipyards, Italian government sources said Wednesday.
Fincantieri will have a 50% stake in the Saint Nazaire
shipyard plus an additional 1% loaned to it by the French state
for 12 years in the deal reached before Wednesday's
Italian-French summit in Lyon, French government sources said,
confirming a report in Le Monde.
France can take back the 1% if Fincantieri does not comply
with the deal during those 12 years, they said.
If Paris takes back the 1%, Fincantieri will have the option
of selling the 50%, Rome government sources said.
The deal, which also envisages military cooperation by the
end of next year, was ratified at a Lyon summit where French
President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni
saw eye-to-eye on a range of issues including collaborating to
construct a better Europe.
Gentiloni said at a press conference with Macron that "Italy
and France are united by a European impetus which I recognised
in the speech Macron made at the Sorbonne and which we greatly
need now that the eurozone has started growing again".
Gentiloni said that "each ministry will have its working plan
for the next few months, it is very important that the message
arrives that Italy and France have a common work programme for
the coming months".
Gentiloni said that "now is the time for ambition. Changes
will not take place in a month, they do not all have the same
deadlines but it is time to put this European impetus on the
European agenda. Now there are the conditions to try to go
forward. We must do so together with Germany, a fundamental
partner for a European relaunch and with a format open to all
willing countries".
Gentiloni said that ""Europe must be an engine for
investments, work and growth, initiatives like common
budgets are not only architecture, super controllers are not
needed but we have to reinforce the drive towards unity to
create growth, development, investments and jobs".
Gentiloni said that "Europe must be a force for stabilisation
and peace above all in the Mediterranean and in Libya".
Macron said that "we went into the details of the joint road
map to map out the work of the coming months. We tackled
important bilateral issues, on which together we can go
forward with concrete projects for the next few months".
Macron said that there was a "full commitment" by both sides
to complete the Turin-Lyon high-speed rail (TAV) line.
Macron said that "there will be intense military
cooperation and it will be improved with the launch, with our
industries, of a global naval leader", referring to the
Fincantieri-STX deal.
Macron said that the Fincantieri-STX deal was a "win-win
accord". He added: "To those who think it's terrible that there
is a non-French operator, I remind them that the shareholder was
Korean before. is a Korean better than an Italian?"
Macron said that "both STX and the Turin-Lyon (high-speed
rail line, TAV), see France and Italy winning".
The ownership of STX, where France and Italy are working,
Gentiloni, to create a global player, is now thus constituted:
50% Fincantieri, 34.34% French State, 10% Naval Group, 3.66%
local companies, 2% workers.
The board is made up thus: 8 members, of whom 4 from
Fincantieri, 2 from the French State, one representing workers
and one the Naval Group.
The president and CEO will be up to Italy to name, while
France will have a veto over the appointments, it was reported
after earlier reports that France's Laurent Castan would remain
president.
Fincantieri shares fell 2% on the Milan bourse on news of the
deal.
The deal, which sets up a global leader with revenues of 10
billion euros, "is an improvement on the previous one from all
standpoints", Italian industry and economy ministry sources
said.
The Italian shipbuilding group "will have direct control of
51% (of the Saint Nazaire shipyards), something not granted in
the previous accord which envisaged 48% for Fincantieri and 4%
for an Italian financial institution".
They said the Italian group "will also have the president,
managing director and majority on the board via the casting
vote".
The deal sets up the "construction of a world leader in the
naval, civil and military sector, through an equal partnership
between Italy and France", the sources said.
The 1% of STX loaned by the French government for 12 years
can be revoked for non-compliance with the terms of the deal,
the sources noted, saying this provision was already in the
previous accord.
The Trieste-based company had been set to take over the
company but the French government exercised pre-emption rights
on STX capital in July, blocking the takeover and causing
considerable tension with Rome.
Paris had called on Fincantieri to accept an offer to divide
STX's capital 50-50.
But at the time Rome said it would not accept a deal in which
Fincantieri did not have control of STX.
photo: Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono
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