You keep businesses beyond shareholders listening to their environment

Mergers are part of normal life Affairs. But the Minister of economy, finance and industry, Thierry Breton, would prefer friendly. "It is better to consult up way to collect the consent of customers, employees and, especially, to shareholders who are in fine alone to decide", he said yesterday afternoon to the financial community meeting at the annual meetings of the association Paris Europlace. The participants saw including une allusion to the solicitations which Euronext.

The Minister showed more specific later, clearly referring to offers submitted respectively by the Nyse and Deutsche Börse. "I received the representatives of the two operators market and I have made the same speech," he continued.

Balanced governance

Although the role of the State in this case is necessarily limited, the Minister recalled that any project of consolidation in this sector must provide assurances on five crucial points. The governance of the whole will remain balanced, in accordance with the federal model and opened implemented by Euronext. Strong activities must be retained in Paris, including in the field of actions and technologies of information.

Financial transactions in Paris will have to remain under the control of the French regulator, the financial markets authority. Sufficient competition must be guaranteed on each segment inbranch activities.

Lastly, the new set must have the ability to integrate other European exchanges which would come to join the project. In this regard, Thierry Breton said in full agreement with Henri Lachmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Schneider Electric, only Gérard Mestrallet, patron of Paris Europlace mandated to assess the various scenarios of rapprochement in presence. "It is very important to gather the opinion of all stakeholders, to inform the shareholders ...". "to enable them to retain the most creative project of value", even explained the Minister. At this point, it seems that nothing is not played in this highly symbolic case which stirs up the place already since long months. What had in fact already suggested a few minutes earlier Henri Lachmann in intervention aligned edges of his mission (see below).

Moreover, the lessee of Bercy reaffirmed its support for the project of competitiveness of the financial activities that develop Paris and its region. This project will be reviewed at a next interdepartmental planning Committee and will be in this "supported without reserve" opportunity by Thierry Breton.

Common grammar.

With recent adventures on the emoluments of the leaders, the Minister failed to evoke his vision of the good practices that must underpin the determination of the remuneration. "The responsibility of the control is based on the boards of directors who decide the remuneration of managers while general assemblies have to approve the outstanding elements of remuneration", he said referring to the Act of August 2005. "This control may be that of the State", he said in rejecting the idea of any Cap. "You keep businesses, beyond shareholders, listening to their environment." "We have nothing to gain by allowing to develop misunderstandings between the public and the business world", the Minister concluded, referring to the need to respect what he calls the "common grammar."