Paris (AFP)

Is the end of the industrial and stock market conflict of the year in sight?

Veolia, engaged in a hostile takeover bid on Suez, proposed Thursday to keep intact the Suez group in France, an approach intended to reassure employees - but Suez immediately replied that it lacked "seriousness".

The umpteenth episode in this saga that began last summer, Veolia proposed Thursday to keep Suez France intact by selling it to the French infrastructure fund Meridiam;

Veolia would only keep its international activities.

If the board of directors of Suez responded favorably, Suez "would remain unchanged in France with its water and waste perimeter of 5 billion euros in turnover (about a third of the total, editor's note) and its more than 25,000 employees" , pleaded Veolia.

Will the proposal be enough to resolve the fratricidal conflict?

So far, Suez was not sending a positive signal.

"The Board of Directors will study today's proposals even if, at this stage, Veolia's proposal lacks seriousness (...) In the absence of any real desire for negotiation and serious proposals, the Group is continuing its industrial project" Suez said in a statement hours after Veolia's announcement.

"I propose to preserve the activities of Suez in France within the same group", which would be sold to Meridiam and would thus become a "competitor of Veolia", said Thursday to the press the CEO of Veolia Antoine Frérot, evoking " a major opening proposal to pacify "the situation.

"It is high time to come to your senses. Veolia wishes to conclude an agreement with the management of Suez which would enable employees, customers and shareholders to be released from uncertainty," he added.

This is to "keep Suez France intact: the water and waste activities will remain together in a single company, called Suez and in which Meridiam will invest", with the "guarantee for at least four years of 100% of jobs and social benefits " he said.

According to him, "nothing would change for the employees of Suez in France", who would benefit "from a serene future".

Until now, Veolia planned to sell Meridiam the only Water France business, which competition rules would have prohibited it from keeping.

This "costs Veolia", which deprives itself of waste assets, "but if this helps to unblock the situation, we are ready to work on it quickly," said Antoine Frérot, confirming his offer of 18 euros per share, amount judged too low by Suez (the current price is just below).

- Annoying disposals -

Number one in environmental services, Veolia already acquired a 29.9% stake in its rival from Engie in October, before launching an assault on the remainder to create "the global benchmark for ecological transformation" .

Since then, the management and the unions of Suez have struggled to try to defeat a project which they believe is synonymous with dismantling and destroying jobs.

From legal recourse to courtesy distilled through the press, the industrial and stock market battle has become a war by all means, without the lines moving fundamentally at this stage.

For Veolia, which filed its hostile takeover bid on February 8 after giving up any hope of an amicable agreement, the project continues "as planned", estimates Antoine Frérot, who expects a dozen months to receive the visas. competition authorities.

Suez pleads for the maintenance of two groups.

The former Lyonnaise des Eaux, engaged in an asset rotation plan to refocus on high-value activities, has significantly accelerated disposals in recent months.

Its managing director Bertrand Camus recently announced a second round of foreign sales, and rumors of negotiations - not confirmed but not denied - have brought Veolia out of its hinges.

Antoine Frérot thus threatened Sunday with prosecution any administrator of Suez who would authorize the sale of international strategic assets, in particular waste treatment companies in Australia and the United Kingdom.

"If Suez sold these assets, there could be no agreement and the shareholders would decide," he warned Thursday.

It is this general meeting of shareholders of Suez which would ultimately arbitrate if the two rivals do not manage to agree.

See you by the end of June.

© 2021 AFP