PARIS (awp/afp) – The French State will keep a preferential share in the capital of the laser and defense company Cilas, in the process of being sold by ArianeGroup to Safran and MBDA, it was indicated on Sunday in Bercy.
A decree signed by the Deputy Director General of the State Participations Agency in the Official Journal published on Sunday stipulates that the State “is acquiring a share in Compagnie Industrielle des Lasers (CILAS) from the company ArianeGroup SAS , at a price of 2.47 euros”.
The State “will take a share in Cilas in order to be able to transform it when the time comes, into a preference share so that the State can have the same level of protection on Cilas as it has today through the preference share which he holds in ArianeGroup”, explained a source to the State Participation Agency.
Cilas, a subsidiary of ArianeGroup is in fact being sold to an MBDA/Safran consortium, recalled the same source.
ArianeGroup announced in December that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with MBDA and Safran for the sale of its majority stake of 63% in Cilas, a pioneering laser company in France, and historical supplier of the armed forces in terms of optronics.
Last July, the Breton company Lumibird had bought the 37% share held by Areva in the capital of Cilas.
im/ico/b