Chronic. France is increasingly monitoring the protection of companies it deems “strategic”. The Eramet mining group will finally be able to safely sell its business in high-performance metal alloys and refocus on the production of nickel, manganese and lithium, three ores essential to the ecological transition. After a careful examination of its accounts and its industrial processes, a consortium comprising Airbus, the engine manufacturer Safran and Tikehau Ace Capital, the fund created in 2020 to strengthen the aeronautics sector, will take over Aubert & Duval (A&D) on the basis of a enterprise value of €95 million through a 50-50 holding company.
The government has been vigilant, as it did a year ago with the night vision specialist Photonis, a supplier to several armies, or more recently with the manufacturer of the Arabelle turbine for nuclear power plants, about to be bought by EDF after its sale by Alstom to General Electric in 2014. The State will retain a right of scrutiny over the company through a “specific action” (golden share), a power that he already held with the owner Eramet to prevent the sale or the increase in the capital of an undesirable buyer.
Failures
A&D manufactures materials and sensitive parts for aeronautics, nuclear and defense (submarines, Rafale, missiles, etc.). It also employs 3,600 people, many of them at its 14 French sites, including the Ancizes (Puy-de-Dôme) and Pamiers (Ariège) factories. This makes it a good example of these medium-sized companies which constitute essential links in certain industrial sectors, while bringing life to regions far from metropolitan areas.
The company was at the heart of the tensions between the Duval family, majority shareholder of Eramet, and Christel Bories, CEO of Eramet. In 2018, shortly after her appointment, she launched an audit of her subsidiary, which revealed failures in the machining and control of parts intended for EDF’s nuclear reactors. Guillaume Faury, Chairman of Airbus, is confident of “restore operational excellence” of a company that reduces “the geopolitical supply risk” for the aircraft manufacturer. And Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran, is delighted with an operation ensuring “national sovereignty” to the most disruptive civil and military engine programs.