The Minister of the Economy has not firmly dismissed the option of a refinancing of the energetician by the State, already a shareholder at 84% of the group.
Le Monde with Reuters
The Minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery, Bruno The Mayor, said, Tuesday, February 15, that “no option (…) did not be rejected” in the strategy of the State vis-à-vis EDF – including a possible nationalization of French energy.
“No options, from the moment when a new era is opened, should not be discarded. We must look at them serenely,” said the minister on the radio BFM Business, in response to a question about a nationalization of ‘EDF. “All do not necessarily belong to the same calendar. But all the options are on the table,” the Mayor said. At the beginning of the year, his ministry had dismounted such a scenario.
Major issue of a refinancing of EDF
Controlled at almost 84% by the French state, EDF faces significant financial needs to invest while the Group is already strongly indebted – 41 billion euros, according to the count of June 2021. lost more than 20% since the beginning of the year, after a fall of 19.89% in 2021. A nationalization of the group could cost the state around 5 billion euros and would result in a rating withdrawal the title, mandatory when a shareholder holds at least 90% of the capital and voting rights.
The stakes of a refinancing of EDF remains major after the displayed ambitions of Emmanuel Macron for the nuclear sector: in case of re-election, the head of state – which is not yet officially candidate – Told wish to carry out a vast project of the renewal of the French nuclear park by the construction of six new new generation reactors (EPR2), with the possibility of eight additional reactors.