Faced with the coronavirus crisis, which is rocking the French economy, the government is interfering in the life of the country's strategic companies. To better control foreign investments, the State sets new, stricter rules.
Economic patriotism is back in force. The government wants to better control foreign investments in strategic French companies.
The reason the state is worried is easy to understand. Take all the CAC40 companies (Air Liquide, Axa, BNP Paribas, Danone, Orange, Total, Vinci ...), add them all up, the 40, and you have the value of Microsoft. In other words, our flagships are not worth much. And this is even more true of smaller companies. They are therefore tempting prey for foreign predators who could scrap our skills, our technologies. Hence the will of the State to better protect this economic heritage.
What other countries are already doing.
Yes. As in Germany, when a non-European foreign buyer wants to take even 10% of the capital of a French company listed on the stock exchange, Bercy will have to give the green light. So far, the threshold has been set at 25%. As for the list of sectors concerned, it is very wide since it includes defense, space, telecoms, energy, food, water and, this is new, biotechnology to prevent, for example the takeover of companies working on a Covid-19 vaccine.
It is therefore the great return of economic protectionism. Bruno Le Maire insists that these measures are temporary. A provisional that may last because the threat from China or the United States is not about to disappear.