While Veolia battle for one month to acquire the shares that Engie has in Suez (29.9 %) of the sketch, in fine, the latter as a whole, the French fund Ardian announced on Thursday 1st October that he was interested in 29.9 per cent. Ardian puts on the table the "support" of the board of directors of Suez and of the director representing the employees. "Ardian wishes to appoint a consortium of institutional investors, private and public, predominantly French, in order to realize this project and to launch a friendly public offer ", he says in a press release sent to Engie.
The Suez group has confirmed a few hours later, his "support" to the process of Ardian. "The board of directors of Suez has confirmed its support, as well as its employee shareholders ", with the approach of Ardian, is it stated in a press release.
on Wednesday evening, the prospect of an agreement between Veolia and Engie on the sale of the shares in Suez, however, was close, the two groups nevertheless providing until Monday to hammer out the details of a transaction to 3.4 billion euros. At the end of a long board, a few hours before the expiry of the offer from Veolia, the energy company was said to receive "welcomed" the improved terms for the 29.9% of the capital of Suez that it holds.
The opposition of Suez
Engie had, however, asked Veolia to" extend the validity of its new offer until 5 October 2020 to Veolia formalizes its commitment not to launch a public offer to purchase that is not friendly ", a request which was accepted. Suez, which is opposed with strength to the maneuver of his direct competitor, did not respond Wednesday evening. He had, until now, been unable to mount an alternative offer with investors in order to preserve its independence. The fund Ardian says "manage and/or advise" on 100 billion dollars of private investment in Europe, America and Asia. The company, historically linked to the insurer Axa, is majority-owned by its employees.
