The Nanterre commercial court puts Suez under pressure
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EXCLUSIVE- The commercial court has appointed Marc Sénéchal as ad hoc agent in charge of executing the Veolia-Suez merger. The latter's unions have seized the National Financial Prosecutor's Office and oppose the agreement reached on April 12.
While the buyout agreement announced between Suez and Veolia was considered on April 20 as "not acceptable" by the Ardian and GIP funds, announced among the buyers of the new Suez, the latter is under close supervision. It is a priori a third fund, Meridiam, which should become the future reference shareholder of the "new Suez", as envisioned by Veolia. In the meantime, Marc Sénéchal, ad hoc representative of Suez appointed by the commercial court of Nanterre and craftsman, with Gérard Mestrallet (ex-Suez), of the April 12 agreement, was entrusted with the "execution" of this deal. The two parties have less than a month to officially ratify their "final rapprochement", knowing that according to the joint press release between the two groups published on April 12, it is for the moment only an "agreement in principle" leaving a few questions open. Knowing that it is he, according to his entourage, "who facilitated the negotiations and made it possible to find this agreement", Marc Sénéchal has no intention of seeing this masterpiece of business diplomacy put back into operation.
Sénéchal also took care of Vallourec
A rather discreet character, but nonetheless very influential, Sénéchal has already been mobilized as an ad hoc representative on sensitive issues in Paris, such as that of Vallourec, on which he worked with judicial administrator Hélène Bourbouloux. He also intervened in the Mediapro affair which shook professional football. Judicial agent since 2005, he is a founding partner of BTSG, the leading French legal mandate structure which has four partners and 120 employees. He intervenes in both amicable and confidential proceedings - which is the case in Veolia-Suez - as well as in legal and collective proceedings. Associate professor at Paris I-Panthéon University, he is also honorary president of the National Council of Judicial Administrators and Judicial Representatives to the head of which he was elected at the age of 36.
Must-see Mestrallet
Gérard Mestrallet is much better known. And his presence in the case has been widely publicized. Honorary chairman of Engie and Suez, he opposed the takeover offer of Veolia in September 2020, saying in a column published by Le Figaro that Suez should remain independent. By the end of January, when Ardian and GIP had expressed their interest, he championed a "negotiated and amicable third way" foreshadowing his role as mediator, which will lead to the April 12 agreement.
Unions still going up
This agreement, said "du Bristol", the Suez unions have not digested and it has been months that they mobilized employees against the offer of Veolia. And for them, the struggle continues. Several organizations - claiming the majority of the intersyndicale - even filed a complaint on April 22 with the national financial prosecutor's office which targets the secretary general of the Elysee Palace Alexis Kohler, the CEO of Veolia Antoine Frérot, the chairman of the board of Engie Jean -Pierre Clamadieu and the CEO of the Meridiam Thierry Déau fund. They denounce both "the intervention of the Elysee Palace well in advance of the public announcement of the" merger project and "regular and repeated pressure to bring about" the merger. They also recall the public declaration in September by Prime Minister Jean Castex in favor of a rapprochement which "makes sense", a position "well beyond the neutrality that the law normally imposes on political power". It should be noted that Bruno Le Maire - who was initially very hostile to Veolia's offer - is not in the sights of the Suez unions. Yet it is the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery who, according to L'Obs, organized on April 8 in Bercy with the Director of the Treasury, Emmanuel Moulin and that of the Caisse des Dépôts, Eric Lombard. , a meeting aimed at bringing the parties closer together. He then celebrated the April 12 agreement which he said "preserves jobs".
The AMF taken to task
The Bercy meeting to whistle the end of the game was held a few days after the publication, on April 2, of a press release from the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) calling for the search for a "negotiated solution "but reframing certain procedures used by Suez as part of its defense. A position taken, which tipped the soap opera towards a happy end for Veolia, at the same time provoking a lot of resentment on the side of Suez. The management of the group then spoke of a position "incomprehensible and once again favoring Veolia adopted via an unacceptable decision-making process because it does not respect p