The shareholders of the highway companies have decided to show their dissatisfaction. After reading the opinion requested from the Council of State by the government to create a new tax on these concessionaires, Jonathan Amouyal, associate of the British activist fund TCI, shareholder of Vinci, expressed his anger.
To understand this irritation, we must go back to February 24 and the submission of the report from the Infrastructure Orientation Council on investment needs in France. On this occasion, the Prime Minister reiterates her desire to make motorway companies and air transport contribute more to the decarbonization of transport.
Motorway concessionaires have since met regularly with the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune, whose intentions have always been very clear. For the latter, the opinion delivered by the Council of State to the government indicates that the fiscal stability clause does not prohibit a tax increase without repercussions on toll rates, provided that this does not relate exclusively to on highway companies. It is in this sense that the article of the finance bill, which will be transmitted to the Council of State, will be drafted. “The Council of State opens a supervised path. The parameters and amounts, we will discuss them in the coming days »explains the minister to World. He specifies that no plan to extend concession periods to compensate for the new tax is on the table, Emmanuel Macron and Elisabeth Borne no longer wanting it since the negotiation of the motorway recovery plan which they carried out in 2015. No shortening either: rather favorable to the concession model, he does not enter into the controversy over excess profits, demagogic in his eyes.
TCI, second shareholder of Vinci behind employees
For Mr. Amouyal, the government has lied in recent weeks by saying that the high court is paving the way for taxation while the concession contracts provide for a fiscal stability clause. According to him, the opinion shows the opposite. “As a major investor in France and in particular in the capital of Vinci, we are very concerned by the increase in taxes recently announced on French motorways and on ADP, he fumes. This would damage investor confidence, including ours, in France. »
He insists : “If this law were to be adopted, France could no longer be considered a country where the rule of law is respected. » The TCI fund manages 50 billion dollars (46.7 billion euros), including 14 billion dollars invested in French companies. He is the second largest shareholder in Vinci, with 7.6% of the capital, just behind employees, and has been doing so for five years. He also holds 4.9% of Airbus (for eleven years) and 4.7% of Safran (for more than twelve years). A real strike force.
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