preliminary Agreement of Fincantieri with the French government for the acquisition of STX France



The French government and Fincantieri have communicated last night to have reached an agreement of principle for the acquisition of shipbuilding group transalpine STX France by the Italian navalmeccanica company.

Remembering that at the beginning of this year the South Korean authorities have selected Fincantieri which preferential offerer in order to acquire the quota stopped 66.7% about from the STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. South Korean in the STX France, with remaining 33.3% about of the capital that is in the hands of the French State ( on 3 January 2017), in a note the minister and the secretary of state of the Economy and finances of Paris, Michel Sapin, and Christophe Sirugue, has evidenced that the French State has followed carefully the procedure starting a dialogue deepened with the potential purchaser. "Fincantieri - the representatives of the French executive have asserted - proposes an ambitious industrial project that aimed to a strengthening of the ship yards based on their segment main activity of the cruise ships as well as on the perseguimento of the diversification, in particular in the field of the marine energy. This project - they have emphasized Sapin and Sirugue - includes relative engagements to the maintenance of the site and its activities, to the investments, the safeguard and the increment of the occupation, to the conservation of the system of subcontracts, of the field of the planning and engineering so as of the autonomy in the commercial law action".

Moreover Sapin and Sirugue have specified that, beyond the engagements assumed from Fincantieri and the aim guaranteeing that the future strategies safeguard the interests of the French yards and employee theirs, "the State it has asked that the composition of the share capital is balanced and that the State as shareholder can have a weight in the governance of the company. The State - they have clarified the minister and the secretary of state - has asked that Fincantieri stops a minority participation in the capital of the society in order at least eight years and has allowed that is placed side by side by an Italian private investor independent of Fincantieri. This last one has proposed the CRTrieste Foundation which investor of along term". The Foundation Savings bank of Trieste has economic the scope to promote the development of Trieste and its province and is constituted in 1992 as a result of the Amato law enforcement of 1990.

Sapin and Sirugue have specified moreover that the State has asked that DCNS, the French group that work in the field of the defense, "can become a shareholder of the society and that the military interests of France are safeguarded" and that "the State can benefit durably of a veto that allows it to oppose itself to a substantial reduction of the activities of the ship yards or its research center or to a transfer of their intellectual property or their know-how-how, to that the yards institute partnerships, branches or acquisitions to out of Europe or a contrary strategy to the interests in matter of national defense". Moreover they have announced that the State has asked that these vetos can have a validity of twenty years, with a review after twelve years.

Clarifying that on these bases the government intends to finalize the negotiations with Fincantieri through a parasociale pact of along term, Sapin and Sirugue have specified that in the next weeks the start of a process of information and consultation with the factory council is previewed and that Fincantieri you carry to term the purchase of the actions of South Korean part and that at last, completed these procedures, the government assumes a decision on the final agreement.

The Italian minister of the Economy and finances, Pier Carlo Padoan, has been said "much satisfying of the decision of the French government to give the green light to the acquisition of STX by Fincantieri. With the participation of the Foundation Savings bank of Trieste - it has found - the Italian quota in the French society arrives to 54%. It is smash hit of the shipbuilding Italian. It is the demonstration that the great Italian enterprises that have invested on the competitiveness and the international credibility can achieve positions of leadership in strategic fields for the total economy. If on one side the foreign investments in Italy can give a contribution to the increase, from the other I consider very important that there is more Italy abroad".

The president of the Friuli Venice Julia, Debora Serracchiani, has expressed satisfaction because "the Italian control of STX is reached also thanks to the participation of the CRTrieste Foundation and this - it has emphasized - must be a reason of pride for the city and great satisfaction for all the region. Our territory and its entrepreneurial ability are thrown again in an international dimension, demonstrating to the ability to our enterprises and institutions to make system on wide scale". "The Region Friuli Venice Julia - it has added Serracchiani - in these years has actively followed and supported the activities and the projects of Fincantieri through policies and initiatives of strengthening of the district of the shipbuilding one. We have flood knowledge of the determining role that the group covers for the economy of our Country and, still more, of our region, where it generates wealth and it creates occupation, it feeds an important one induced and it invests in search and innovation".