French State News

French President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff has been indicted by the national financial crimes prosecutor over a conflict of interest relating to his alleged links with Swiss-Italian shipping company MSC, the prosecutor's office said.Alexis Kohler, Macron's closest and most influential adviser, sits at the top of the Elysee Palace's administrative pyramid, and news of his indictment - a legal step that puts him under formal investigation in France - is a blow.The prosecutor's office "confirms Alexis Kohler…

CMA CGM, one of the world's largest container shipping groups, on Friday posted a jump in first-quarter earnings and said it expected strong demand for transporting consumer goods to continue for the rest of the year.French-based CMA CGM's net profit rose to $2.1 billion in the first quarter from $48 million in the same period last year, while core EBITDA earnings rose to $3.2 billion from $973 million, the group said in a statement.Container lines such as market leader Maersk have seen a boom in demand as the COVID-19 crisis has stoked buying of packaged goods by locked-down consumers, while

Container shipping group CMA CGM said on Friday that it expected activity to remain strong in the first half of this year after brisk demand for consumer goods boosted its profits at the end of last year.France-based CMA CGM said its fourth-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached $2.23 billion, compared with $1.01 billion in the year-earlier period.Quarterly group net profit came to $1.0 billion.

Rome and Paris agreed on Wednesday that a proposed combination of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and French rival Chantiers de l'Atlantique no longer made sense in the current economic environment.State-owned Fincantieri's bid to take over its French peer, also owned by the state, collapsed three years after it was announced, thwarted by competition issues and the COVID-19 crisis.The agreement is due to expire on Jan.

France has offered Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri's a one-month extension to its planned acquisition of French rival Chantiers de l'Atlantique, the finance ministry said in a statement sent to Reuters on Wednesday.State-controlled Fincantieri has accepted the proposal, a spokesman said.The agreement between France and Fincantieri was due to expire on Thursday, after repeated deadline extensions following competition concerns over the merger of two global leaders and the deal…

France's next-generation aircraft carrier will be nuclear-powered and replace the national fleet's flagship warship, the Charles de Gaulle, in 2038, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.The 11th carrier-vessel in the French Navy's history will be built by French defense contractor Naval Group and equipped with the new electromagnetic aircraft launch system developed by U.S. company General Atomics, French officials said.The carrier will be 300 meters long and have a deadweight of 75,000 tons.

Container shipping group CMA CGM on Friday reported higher second-quarter profits and said it expects results to improve again in the current quarter as the shipping sector recovers quickly from disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.French-based CMA CGM recorded a net profit of $136 million for the second quarter compared with a year-earlier $109 million loss.Core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 26% to $1.2 billion as favourable freight rates and reduced costs, linked to lower oil prices and an efficiency programme, offset a drop in sales caused by the

CMA CGM expects activity in the shipping sector to bottom out during the second quarter as countries emerge from coronavirus-related lockdowns and ship operators adjust capacity, the France-based group's finance chief said.The world's fourth-largest container shipping line had anticipated a 15% year-on-year drop in its volumes in the second quarter, after a 4.6% decline in the first quarter, Chief Financial Officer Michel Sirat said."I think that the second quarter will be the low point," he told Reuters by telephone.

Europe's largest shipyard Fincantieri faces a full-scale EU antitrust investigation into its bid for France's Chantiers de l'Atlantique on concerns the deal would reduce competition, three people familiar with the matter said.The European Commission's preliminary review of the deal ends on Wednesday. It will follow up with an in-depth investigation, the sources said. This lasts 90 working days but could stretch to as long as five months.The EU competition enforcer is worried the number of European players will be cut to two from three as a result of the deal, the sources said. The other competitor is a German shipyard.Fincantieri has argued Asian shipyards could pose strong competition in the next decade to try to address the Commission's worries, the people said.

France wants the European Union to work on creating a tax on airplane and ship fuels as part of a push to rein in carbon emissions, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday.Le Maire said the tax would complement plans supported by France and Germany for a carbon border tax that would shield European companies from competition from countries with lower emissions standards."It's incomprehensible that carbon emissions targets were set for cars and not for airplanes and ships.

The European Commission has agreed to the request submitted by France and Germany asking it to look at Fincantieri's proposed acquisition of Chantiers de l'Atlantique in the light of the EU Merger Regulation.The Commission considers that the transaction could harm competition at European and global level.The proposed acquisition of Chantiers de l'Atlantique by Fincantieri does not reach the turnover thresholds set by the EU Merger Regulation for transactions notifiable to the European Commission because of their European dimension. However, the plan was notified for authorisation in France and Germany.France submitted a referral request pursuant to Article 22(1) of the EU Merger Regulation.

A joint venture signed between defense company Leonardo and shipbuilder Fincantieri will favor Italy's talks with France over a military shipbuilding deal, Leonardo CEO told Corriere della Sera on Monday.Earlier this month the two Italian companies sealed a deal over the development of combat systems, strengthening their cooperation in the naval sector.Separately, Fincantieri and French state-controlled shipyards Naval Group last week announced a joint venture for warship projects, moving closer to a broader alliance between the two countries on military shipbuilding.Leonardo, which supplies combat systems and other equipment for military ships, is expected to take part in the alliance, but its role has been repeatedly questioned as its competences overlap with France's Thales, which owns

The French government continues to support Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri's takeover of STX France, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday, but cautioned against hastening a related defense naval merger.Speaking in Rome after a meeting with the Italian government, he told journalists France had not changed its position on the deal, quelling concerns the takeover could be hampered by tenser relations between Paris and Italy's new anti-establishment government.However, he warned against hastening a merger between Fincantieri and French military shipyards operator Naval Group which ha

The Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri signed Friday an agreement to buy 50% of the share capital of France's STX Shipyard, for 59.7 million euros. This takeover is part of the agreement in principle reached in September between France and Italy, which put an end to months of tension between the two countries. "The signing takes place after the resolution of the share purchase agreement previously signed between Fincantieri and STX Europe on May 19, 2017 as a consequence of the exercise by the French State of its pre-emption right for the acquisition of the entirety of STX France share capital on July 28, 2017 and follows the signing of the share purchase agreement between the French State and STX Europe," said a statement from the company.

Damen Shiprepair & Conversion has been awarded a contract to undertake the conversion of a dredger to dual-fuel capability combining LNG and MGO – a first of its kind project in Europe. The contract was awarded by Rouen-based GIE Dragages-Ports with regard to its 117m, 8500m³ trailing suction hopper dredger Samuel de Champlain, and the works will take place next year at Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque. The conversion is part of an EU-supported initiative to promote LNG propulsion in short-sea vessels operating along the European Atlantic coast.

CGG SA announces that all creditor classes entitled to vote on the chapter 11 plan proposed in the chapter 11 cases commenced on 14 June 2017 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York by CGG SA’s 14 main foreign, direct and indirect subsidiaries, each a borrower or guarantor in respect of CGG Group’s funded financial indebtedness, have accepted the plan overwhelmingly. Specifically, all holders who have cast ballots in respect of the Secured Loans, and 97.14% in number and 97.96% in amount of those casting ballots in respect of the Senior Notes, voted in favour of the plan. Reuters reported that CGG has debt in excess of $3 billion…

France: Italy's Fincantieri best option. France wants a private investor for the STX France shipyards and Fincantieri is the best option but the government will be forced to consider other alternatives should negotiations with the Italian shipbuilder fail, the French Finance Minister said on Tuesday in an Italian paper. "The (STX) Saint Nazaire shipyards must not be directed by the French State. We want a private shareholder and Fincantieri today is the best industrial group to join this big European and Franco-Italian project," Bruno Le Maire told daily il Corriere della Sera in an interview. Le Maire, who will reopen talks with Italy on Tuesday…

France will temporarily nationalise the STX France shipyard to prevent an Italian firm taking majority control, the economy minister said on Thursday, marking President Emmanuel Macron's first big industrial policy decision. As France's most avowedly pro-business leader in decades, few would have predicted the former investment banker's first big move in the corporate sector would be a nationalisation. However, his action fits with the interventionist style of other postwar French leaders. It also crosses into the defence sector, where many national governments prefer to wield influence over ownership. The Italian state-owned shipbuilder Fincantieri rejected a French offer this week of 50-50 ownership of the shipyard…

French govt has made 50/50 ownership offer to Italy; Minister says offer on the table until Thursday. The French state said on Wednesday it would nationalise the STX France shipyard if Italy does not accept its offer to split STX's capital equally, putting down a marker on the limits of economic liberalism under new President Emmanuel Macron. The threat raises the stakes in a standoff with Rome over the shipyard's fate, the only one in France with facilities large enough to build aircraft carriers. Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said nationalisation would give the state more time to find a better shareholder deal, but even if temporary, it would mark the first major state intervention in the corporate world by Macron's government which was elected on a pro-business platform.

Two French former defence industry executives have been placed under preliminary investigation as part of a probe into the 2002 sale of submarines to Malaysia, an official in the French judiciary said on Wednesday. The source said Philippe Japiot and Jean-Paul Perrier, former executives at Thales and DCNS, had been placed under investigation as part of a long-running probe into alleged kickbacks from that Malaysian submarines deal in 2002. Japiot and Perrier deny any wrongdoing, French media reports said. Reuters was unable to immediately reach either individual. Being a target of a preliminary investigation or a formal investigation in France does not necessarily lead to a trial.

Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri S.p.A. said it has signed a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of 66.66 percent of the share capital of STX France shipyard from its current shareholder STX Europe AS. The agreement entails a purchase price of €79.5 million ($89 million). Fincantieri continues to negotiate with the French State for the finalization of the shareholders’ agreement for STX France in accordance with the Heads of Terms signed on April 12. Based in Saint-Nazaire…

The French state is considering nationalising the Saint-Nazaire shipyards before selling it to new investors if no deal can be reached with Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri, Le Monde newspaper said on Friday. Shipbuilders MSC and Royal Caribbean have already expressed an interest, the newspaper said. State-owned Fincantieri has made a bid for STX France, which specialises in building cruise ships at France's Saint-Nazaire shipyard. The sale forms part of a broader sell-off of businesses following the demise of the South Korea's STX shipbuilding group. However, completion of the deal has been delayed as the French government has made clear it does not want Fincantieri alone to hold more than 50 percent of STX…

French industry minister Christophe Sirugue said he would meet Italy's Fincantieri in a week's time to discuss its bid for STX France, but added France was still against Fincantieri gaining dominance in the governance of STX France. "Our position is that we do not want Fincantieri to be the sole majority shareholder in the governance of Saint-Nazaire shipyards," Sirugue told Reuters on Friday, speaking on the sidelines of a news conference in Paris. "We continue to work with Fincantieri and we will probably have to meet again in a week's time". Attempts by the French government to ensure that Fincantieri does not take a majority stake in STX France are "unacceptable", a top Italian Treasury official said in La Repubblica newspaper on Feb 16.