French Audit Office queries state role as Orange shareholder

News General France 27 JAN 2017
French Audit Office queries state role as Orange shareholder

The French Audit Office (Cour des comptes) has published a report on the role of the state as a shareholder over the 2010-2016 period, including its holdings in companies such as Orange and La Poste. The report includes several comments on the impact of the public stake in Orange, which amounts to 23 percent, highlighting that the political will to maintain the influence of the French state at its current level could potentially hold back Orange’s development prospects.

In particular, "the reluctance of the State to see its participation diluted and its influence reduced can, from this perspective, represent a handicap for the future of Orange. This situation has been one of the reasons, among others, of the failure in the merger talks between Orange and Bouygues at the start of 2016", the report said.     

Categories:

General

Companies:

Bouygues Telecom,  Orange

Countries:

France

Tags:

Wireline, Wireless, Government policy, Corporate strategy

Related Articles

FRANCE 27 OKT 2016

EU court rejects Orange appeal in pension scheme case

The EU Court of Justice has rejected an appeal from Orange in a case centred around the changes made to the company's pension scheme 20 years ago, when France Telecom (now Orange) prepared to list on the stock exchange in 1996. Orange was appealing against the findings of the European Commission, which in 2011 had ruled that certain financing measures involving the France Telecom's pension scheme constituted state aid and gave the company an advantage over its competitors.

EUROPE 25 OKT 2016

Orange comparable sales growth improves to 0.8% in Q3

Orange reported third-quarter sales up 0.8 percent on a comparable basis to EUR 10.323 billion, led by growth across most its European markets as well as Africa and Middle East. While revenues in France were still down 0.6 percent and 3.9 percent lower in Poland, the company grew 7.8 percent in Spain, 1.7 percent in Belgium and Luxembourg, 0.8 percent in central Europe and 2.5 percent in MEA. This supported a 1.6 percent increase in adjusted EBITDA to EUR 3.597 billion in the quarter, and the EBITDA margin

FRANCE 11 APR 2016

French govt doubles voting rights in Orange

The French government now directly holds 13.44 percent of equity and 21.14 percent of voting rights in Orange, according to a statement from the financial markets authority. Les Echos writes that the state passed the 20 percent threshold thanks to a double voting rights rule under the Florange Act. The combined holdings of the government and sovereign investment fund BPIFrance Participations amount to 23.04 percent of capital and 29.49 percent of voting rights. Caisse des Depots holds 11.29 percent of equit

FRANCE 1 APR 2016

Orange, Bouygues end merger talks

Orange and Bouygues have brought an end to their discussions to merge their French telecom operations, saying they were unable to reach a final agreement. The talks started in January on merging France's number one and number three operators and are thought to have faltered in the end on how big of a stake Bouygues would get in Orange in return for its telecom assets. Bouygues said in a statement that it was unable to secure terms on four important points: what would happen to its employees joining Orange,

FRANCE 7 JAN 2016

French govt to remain 'reference shareholder' in Orange

The French state intends to remain a shareholder in Orange, according to economy minister Emmanuel Macron. It will study any proposed merger between Orange and Bouygues Telecom according to "simple" criteria, such as investment, employment and consumer protection, as well as value creation, he told Reuters at an event to mark the launch of the sales period in Paris. The state is a "reference shareholder" and intends to remain so at Orange, Macron said. For the government, the priority is for France to remai

Just In

19 DEC 16:42

SLT-Mobitel launches 5G network in Sri Lanka

19 DEC 16:19

Dialog Axiata launches 5G network, connects 1.5 million subscribers

19 DEC 15:56

UK govt to ban AI-enabled nudification apps to protect women, girls

19 DEC 15:42

3 UK launches last-minute Christmas sale

Commentary

13:56

Video market set for slower growth ahead

11:38

Netflix buys Warner Bros to deepen content catalogue

11:11

KPN's mixed performance in Q3 raises questions for strategy day

15:26

Stock markets breaking records but what happened to Odido's IPO plans?

Background

01:04

The week in telecom: Wi-Fi bolt-ons take off to boost broadband growth, video market works on consolidation

01:39

The week in telecom: Netflix wins bidding for Warner Bros, Apple poaches new execs, Samsung debuts trifold

13:51

Proximus vs. Telenet: Proximus performs better in Q3 while Telenet uses up cash

14:16

Proximus Domestic still struggling with low margins

Complete profile

Before downloading the whitepaper, we would like to ask you to complete your profile with company and position. After confirming you will receive the white paper.