The sequence is unusual and it has been taking place since this morning in La Défense, Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis) and Place de l’Opéra in Paris. At the same time, at the stroke of 9 a.m., a squad of bailiffs accompanied by IT specialists landed at the headquarters of Veolia, the French leader in water distribution, the energy company Engie (Ex GDF-Suez) and the Meridiam investment fund. Each of the bailiffs was provided with an order from the president of the commercial court of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) authorizing them to seize all the documents relating to the attempted takeover of Suez by its main competitor, Veolia. A new spectacular episode in the fight between the CEO of Veolia, Antoine Frérot, the leaders of Suez, Philippe Varin and Bertrand Camus, who are trying by all means to stop the takeover that they consider «hostile» launched on the former Lyonnaise des Eaux by its major competitor.
The IT staff, provided with keywords linked to this operation, therefore have carte blanche to invite themselves inside the computers of the directors of Veolia, Engie and Meridiam. They also obtained access to the computer servers where all the emails exchanged are stored. For almost six months now, with the blessing of Engie who wants to sell its subsidiary, Veolia has been trying to buy Suez, which has turned into a real entrenched camp. However, since October 5, Veolia already owns 30% of the capital of Suez and now intends to get its hands on the remaining 70% by launching, within a few months, a takeover bid (takeover bid). But Suez is therefore defending herself tooth and nail against what she considers to be a future “dismantling”, with a big social break. In France, 4,000 jobs could be threatened if the operation is carried out, according to the unions of Suez.
Demonstrate that the sales dice were loaded
On November 13, following a request filed with the commercial court, Suez obtained an order giving it the possibility of mandating bailiffs to seize all the documents related to the takeover offer of Veolia. . Objective according to Jean Veil and Bruno Cavalié, the two Suez lawyers mandated for this operation: to demonstrate that from July and even before the official announcement of Veolia’s interest in Suez in August, secret and confidential discussions took place. place in order to “lock” the operation. The procedure carried out also intends to shed light on the absence of a takeover offer competing with that of Veolia which, in fact, would not have had time to emerge given the acceleration of the process initiated by the seller Engie for profit from Antoine Frérot’s group.
On the ground, the operation was still underway at the beginning of the afternoon. Because as soon as the judicial officers appointed by Suez pointed out, the lawyers of Veolia, Engie and Meridiam (approached to buy part of the assets of Suez) were called urgently. Since then, a long discussion has taken place on the documents and other emails that the bailiffs want to seize and those to which they will not have access. The documents seized must therefore mention certain keywords defined by the president of the commercial court.
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All the information thus collected will then be placed in receivership. The commercial court of Nanterre will decide which ones can be transmitted to Suez. In the meantime, Veolia will be able to challenge this procedure in court, which should still give the lawyers of all parties a lot of work.
Homeric battle
If the information collected by Suez justifies it, “Several legal actions could be initiated”, believes Bruno Cavalié. For its part, Veolia believes in a press release that “All the operations carried out were largely public”.
This umpteenth twist shows in any case that Suez and Veolia are not really on the verge of finding common ground. However, until now, the CEO of Veolia, Antoine Frérot, has repeated that he would only launch a takeover bid on Suez if it is “Friendly”. Clearly, that it receives the agreement of the board of directors of Suez. At this stage, things got off to a bad start given the war of position waged by Varin and Camus.
To achieve his ends, Antoine Frérot risks resorting to a more expeditious solution: requesting the convening of a general meeting of Suez shareholders to obtain the dismissal of the current board of directors and replace it with more conciliatory people … This Homeric battle between the two French water giants, which the health crisis has not stopped, nor the appeals for reason from the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, still undoubtedly reserves new twisted blows from either side. A soap opera like the CAC 40 had not seen one for years.
Franck Bouaziz
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