In a press release published on Tuesday, Bercy specifies its plans to take full control of the energy company.
The government is coming out of the woodwork on its plans for EDF. In a press release published on Tuesday, Bercy clarified its plans to take full control of the energy company, as announced by the Prime Minister to the deputies. The state will thereforelaunch a simplified takeover bid for EDF equity securitiesto delist the company. All inclusive, the offer represents just under 10 billion euros – 9.7 billion, precisely – according to government calculations. She would be filedby early September 2022 with the AMF“, the Financial Markets Authority, provided that the 2022 amending budget, which includes the necessary budgetary appropriations, is voted.
“The State intends to acquire 15.9% of EDF’s capital as well as 60% of the bonds convertible into and/or exchangeable for new or existing shares (OCEANEs) that it does not hold , through a simplified tender offer (the Offer) which would be filed with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) subject to the promulgation of an amending finance law for 2022 […] bearing the budgetary appropriations necessary for the Offer“, specifies the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The state offers12 euros per EDF share, coupon attached», i.e. a respective bonus of «53%, 46% and 34% on the closing share price of July 5, 2022 […] and on the volume-weighted average share price for the last 60 days, and for the twelve months preceding July 5, 2022“. At the same time, the public authorities are proposing€15.64 per OCEANE bond“.
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A way to strengthen France’s energy sovereignty
The public authorities had until Tuesday toto specify [leurs] intentionsabout the energy company and explain how this group will be taken over. These elements had to be transmittedno later than July 19, 2022 before market opening“, specified Bercy, last week, adding that “the French State intends to acquire the EDF equity securities that it does not hold in order to bring its stake to 100% of the Company’s capital“.
During her general policy speech, Elisabeth Borne confirmed that the government wanted “hold 100% of EDF’s capital“. A means, according to the Prime Minister, of strengthening France’s energy sovereignty, of accelerating decision-making within the group and of “make strong, radical decisions», in a particularly difficult context. Renationalizing the tricolor energy giant should allow the state to take back the “full control of electricity production and its performance“, while defending the “sovereignty“From France, also argued the former Minister of Labor.
Quoted in the press release from Bercy, the Minister of Economy and Finance insists that regaining control of the energy company will give “to EDF the means necessary to accelerate the implementation of the new nuclear program desired by the President of the Republic, and the deployment of renewable energies in France“. It should also make it possible to plan France’s energy transformations over the long term, according to Bercy.
On Europe 1, the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, put this announcement into perspective, stressing that EDF “has been nationalized for a very long time“. For the time being, in fact, the State is the majority shareholder of EDF, holding 84.08% of the capital, as of June 30, according to figures from the company. The other shares are held by institutional and individual shareholders, for 14.8%, by employee shareholders, for 1.08%, and in treasury, for 0.04%. It will therefore be necessary to buy back some 615.8 million shares to hold all of them. During the last exchanges, last week, the title was displayed at 10.225 euros, up sharply.
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