The government chose the easiest way to proceed, instead of a nationalization law which would have been the first since 1981.

It plans to file the offer by early September with the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), with the aim of completing the operation at the end of October, according to the Ministry of the Economy.

However, this will be subject to Parliament voting the necessary credits in the amending finance law for 2022. This text is currently being examined by the National Assembly.

The takeover bid for the remaining 15.9% of the capital to be acquired will be based on an offer of 12 euros per share.

This price represents a premium of 53% on the share price noted the day before the announcement of the intention to renationalise.

It is also an increase of 34% compared to the average stock market price of the previous twelve months, underlines Bercy.

The State also plans to offer 15.64 euros per OCEANE (convertible bond).

The quotation of EDF, suspended on July 13 while the government clarifies its intentions, resumed on Tuesday and the price quickly converged towards 12 euros, at 11.78 euros around 11:00 a.m.

The control room of Euronext, the company that manages the Paris Stock Exchange Eric PIERMONT AFP

The price is a key question, a fortiori for a group which entered the stock market with a bang in 2005, has since seen its share price plummet, from 32 euros at the end of 2005 to less than 8 before the announcement of renationalisation.

The employee shareholders threatened on Monday to file a criminal complaint against the State for its strategic and industrial decisions, with "spoiling" consequences for them, a way of putting pressure before the takeover bid.

Bercy nevertheless believes that this should not delay the operation.

Once acquired 90% of the capital, he will be able to take all the shares, as provided for by the rules of the market.

If the state buys out the group in its entirety, it will then be delisted.

– A step before the reorganization –

This return of the State to 100% in EDF was announced on July 6 by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, in her general policy speech.

"This operation gives EDF the means necessary to accelerate the implementation of the new nuclear program wanted by the President of the Republic, and the deployment of renewable energies in France," declared Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Economy, quoted in the press release from Bercy.

The group, over-indebted, is faced with heavy financial charges, present and future, and vast industrial projects.

Emmanuel Macron announced the launch of a program of six EPR nuclear reactors, even 14, of which the only model currently under construction in France, in Flamanville (Manche), is more than ten years late.

EDF must also manage the maintenance of an aging fleet, while more than half of its 56 reactors are shut down for maintenance or corrosion problems that have recently appeared.

Operators near the Flamanville EPR reactor enclosure, June 14, 2022 Sameer Al-DOUMY AFP

Weighed down by a debt that could reach more than 60 billion euros at the end of 2022, EDF has seen its financial situation further deteriorated by the government's decision to make it sell more cheap electricity to its competitors to protect household bills. .

100% nationalization should therefore only be the first step in a vast project.

Its priority issues: what regulation for the sharing of current nuclear power, whose revenues largely go to EDF's competitors via the sale of low-cost electricity, and how to finance new nuclear power.

Everything will have to involve discussions with Brussels and possible reforms for the group.

The renationalisation "allows us to open extremely long-term sites with more serenity", it is said at Bercy: "This is not the end of the projects we have for EDF, both in terms of its production than its organization, but it is a very important step."

In this context, the State is continuing its search for a new CEO, the current one, Jean-Bernard Lévy, thus anticipating by a few months a departure linked to his age.

Objective, announce a new governance in September.

© 2022 AFP