VEOLIA OPA on SUEZ: a survey of suspicions of influence trafficking led by PNF

Several Unions of the SUEZ Group filed a complaint, in April, reproaching “intervention at different levels of many actors close to power”, including the Secretary General of the Elysee, Alexis Kohler, to make the merger of the two Companies.

Le Monde with AFP

The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) Investigation has since 18 June on a possible influence trafficking around Veolia’s OPA purchase offer, suspecting the Secretary General of the Elysée, Alexis Kohler, and the officials of Veolia and Engie, learned the France-Presse agency (AFP), Friday, October 29, a judicial source.

The complainants – who represent the majority of the Intersyndical of the Suez group – denounced “the intervention of the Elysée well upstream of the public announcement of the project” of merger between the two companies specialized in water and The waste, then the “regular and repeated pressures to bring” the rapprochement.

“Direct intervention” and “determining” documents

In their complaint, filed on April 22 with the PNF, the unions suspected Mr. Kohler, the President and CEO (CEO) of Veolia, Antoine Frérot, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Engie, Jean-Pierre Clamardieu, and the CEO of the Meridiam Fund, Thierry Déau, to have agreed on the merger of the two entities. The unions mentioned in their complaint of several meetings “involving the government” of an agreement with Meridiam “upstream of the project announcement”, of “intervention at different levels of many actors close to power ( …) But above all the direct intervention of Alexis Kohler in October 2020 with union representatives “to obtain at the Board of Directors of Engie that Veolia buys the units (29.9%) held by Suez.

The National Financial Office (PNF) Survey since June 18 on a possible influence traffic around the Veolia OPA on Suez, suspecting NOTAM The Secretary General of the Elysée, Alexis Kohler. — The National Financial Office (PNF) Survey since June 18 on a possible influence traffic around the Veolia OPA on Suez, suspecting in particular the Secretary General of the Elysee, Alexis Kohler. Benoit Tessier / AFP

In May, one month after the complaint, the trade union (CGT-CFDT-CFTC) of Suez, claiming 65% of the representativeness of the group, had “decided To abide by the company Veolia, Engie, Meridiam and sue not to proceed with the destruction or alteration of the documents seized on November 26, 2020 and currently in sequestration “. They were worried about seeing disappearing “these documents [which] could be critical evidence to identify more accurately the role of each of the actors who have been involved” in redemption.

August 30, 2020, Antoine Frérot, CEO of the world’s number one water and waste, launched the Industrial and Financial Order of the Year in France by presenting the press its grand plan, the acquisition rival still. At the beginning of October 2020, Veolia bought from Engie 29.9% of Suez, before launching an OPA on the rest of the shares, to the chagrin of his besieged rival.

But after more than seven months of bitter negotiations, the leaders of Veolia and Suez had finally heard from mid-May so that the first absorbs a good part of the second and forms a “champion” of the Water and waste weighing 37 billion euros. At the end of July, Veolia launched a public offer on the remaining 70.1%. The case should, according to the parties, be settled in the coming months, giving birth to a reinforced Veolia and one in Suez reduced to 40% of the current group.

/Media reports.