- On Facebook, a viral text originally published last March has resurfaced in recent days.
- According to him, the government would have discreetly privatized La Poste by selling its shares in the group's capital, which should lead to less regular mail distribution.
- If the State became a minority in early March, the Caisse des Dépôts, which became a majority, is a public institution, which avoided any change in status. And this development will not affect the delivery of mail, as La Poste specifies at 20 Minutes .
Has the media (and national) attention paid to the coronavirus epidemic allowed the government to proceed with discretion in the privatization of La Poste?
This is the claim relayed on Facebook by a post that has gone viral since it went online on July 10. "Abracadabra! Thanks to the coronavirus, nobody has seen anything. Last Wednesday, the share of the State in the capital of the Post went from 73.6% to 34%. And this in all discretion (as for 49.3). Barely three lines in the media. "
"However, this will imply an acceleration in the closure of post offices, job cuts, and probably the end of the distribution of mail every day. But hey, all eyes are on the pandemic. When the sage designates the moon, the idiot looks at the finger, ”concludes this text.
If the direct share of the State in the capital of La Poste has decreased recently, this development dates back to a few months, and not last week. Above all, contrary to what post viral claims, this change did not lead to the privatization of the postal service operator since it remains wholly owned by public capital.
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"There is no privatization of La Poste, which is a 100% public company, owned by the State and the Caisse des Dépôts", confirms the group to 20 Minutes .
The operation in question took place on March 4, 2020, a few weeks before the containment began. Far from hiding it, La Poste and the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) had announced on this occasion on their respective sites the creation of this "great public financial center".
“Caisse des Dépôts acquired from the State an additional stake in the capital of La Poste for an amount of nearly one billion euros. From now on, Caisse des Dépôts holds 66% of the capital and voting rights of La Poste and the State 34% ”, underlined for example Caisse des Dépôts. La Poste, for its part, specified that the State's share thus increased from 73.68% to 34% while that of the CDC increased from 26.32% to 66%.
This change was therefore not marked by the entry of a new shareholder but not a simple reversal of the majority positions of the State and minority of the CDC, whose status of public establishment is recalled by article L518 -2 of the Monetary and Financial Code.
A project announced in August 2018
“The merger between Le Groupe La Poste and Caisse des Dépôts is part of the creation of a public financial group serving the public interest, which also includes the merger between La Banque Postale and CNP Assurances. This development allows La Poste to take a new step in its development and the diversification of its activities, ”adds La Poste today to 20 Minutes .
This project had also been announced on August 30, 2018, by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, almost two years before it finally saw the light of day, after numerous negotiation stages - and after have obtained the green light from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF).
Failing to make the headlines of the press, it was also well evoked during this long process by various media, including Le Figaro and Capital , the latter evoking for example “the kick-off [of a] new public financial giant ”last December. A few months earlier, Les Echos detailed the progress of the negotiations.
No influence on La Poste's public service missions
As for the viral text on social networks, if it has resurfaced in recent days, it had initially circulated in early March, shortly after the finalization of this project, as we can see in various publications of the time - who then spoke directly of "privatization".
Finally, La Poste indicates that, contrary to what post viral claims, this development of the business is "not intended to influence [its] public service missions": "The universal postal service, which includes the distribution of mail 6 days a week throughout the national territory, or the regional development mission, which notably requires having at least 17,000 points of contact at national level, are in no way called into question. It is also unfounded to refer as a consequence to a reduction in staff. "
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