Article in Les Echos this morning (owned by B Arnault, also shareholder of CA FP):
"It was in March 2020. In a France hit by the Covid epidemic and approaching its first confinement, the cashiers and handlers of the mass distribution were the heroes. "I really want to pay tribute to them […], mass distribution has been exemplary in this crisis to guarantee the security of supply for the French", declared the Minister of the Economy at the time.
Less than a year later, can the State allow Carrefour, champion of the sector and one of the largest French private employers, to pass under the Canadian flag?
On Wednesday evening, Bruno Le Maire expressed his reservations about the € 20 billion takeover offer issued by the Quebec group Couche-Tard in the program “C à Vous”. "A priori, I am not in favor of this operation," said the minister, qualifying Carrefour as "an essential link in the food security of the French, in food sovereignty". “The day you go to Carrefour and there is no more pasta, no more rice, no more essentials, what do you do? », He explained.
"Food sovereignty"
The Minister, who spoke during the day with all those responsible for the file, managers, main shareholders, etc., is therefore reserved. Bercy believes that Carrefour has assets to develop its model and stresses that it is ready to support it in this transformation.
In fact, Bercy can have a say in the operation. The public authorities can use this argument of food sovereignty from the Pacte law. The distribution (in the same way as the production and processing) of "agricultural" products such as milk, edible meat or fruit (referenced in the annex to the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union) is indeed one of the sectors falling under the control of Bercy.
Real veto or start of a negotiation?
Bercy can now reject a transaction without even having to say it within a month. And the notion of "overriding reasons of general interest" to justify its action may very well be opposed, without arousing opposition from the European Commission. If it chooses another path and begins a dialogue, the government has the means to demand guarantees and commitments, at least on the employment and maintenance of the head office - likely to derail the transaction. But projects like Technip, Alcatel or Photonis in this field have shown the limits of this lever. It remains to be seen whether this is a veto or the start of a negotiation."