Paris (AFP)
The employee shareholders of the Suez and Engie groups, in a common approach, asked the State on Wednesday to "postpone" any merger with Veolia, believing that "the social interest" of the project "is far from being proven".
Suez, a specialist in water and waste treatment, has been fighting for its independence since the end of August, since its main shareholder Engie was offered by Veolia to sell its 29.9% of shares for 2.9 billion euros.
"This is a poorly prepared financial transaction, detrimental to shareholders as for employees who, once again, will suffer, without being consulted, the double penalty of the market", judge the employee shareholders, who represent respectively the second block in the capital of Engie (3.2%) and the third in Suez (4.1%).
"The social interest of the project for our respective companies seems far from being established", they deplore, estimating that "an industrial project cannot be built without studying the long-term impacts and without taking into account the opinions of stakeholders that are employee shareholders ".
This question of deadlines was also raised by the president of Suez Philippe Varin, who was heard by the deputies on Wednesday morning.
"I do not see why Engie, in which the State is a 23.6% shareholder, would accept a four week ultimatum on such a fundamental subject. We need a little time to prepare alternative offers", a- he declared.
"We have understood the need for Engie to sell its share in the capital of Suez, we are convinced that we can offer solutions with a pool of investors", he said, denouncing the offer of Veolia "which, accompanied by an ultimatum today of September 30, does not seem acceptable to us".
Tuesday, Veolia said it was "ready" to "discuss" with Engie its plan to buy back its stake in Suez, including the price.
Suez also said on Tuesday that the merger would threaten 10,000 jobs worldwide, while Veolia said its project would preserve jobs.
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