This is a sentence that went unnoticed, Thursday, March 17, in Emmanuel Macron’s river program presentation speech. As he addresses energy issues, the candidate says “assume having a will to plan” on this subject and slips: “We will have to regain capital control of several industrial players. »
Asked about the subject during his press conference, the president-candidate noted: “On some of the most sovereign activities, the State must take back capital, which goes with a broader reform of the first French electrician. »
The leading French electrician is obviously EDF, the leading European nuclear operator, 83.9% owned by the State. The concrete translation of Mr. Macron’s remarks is simple: it is for the public authorities to regain full ownership of the company, that is to say to buy back the 16.1% that it no longer holds. The Stock Exchange was not mistaken: the EDF action, however in bad shape, took 5.1% after the announcements of the President of the Republic.
What has been an increasingly insistent rumor in recent days has finally materialized in Mr. Macron’s program, several informed sources have confirmed to the World.
However, what would be the use of a complete nationalization of the group, since it is already largely public? Mainly to finance the program of new nuclear reactors that the candidate calls for. He repeated on Thursday his desire to launch, if he is re-elected, the construction of six EPRs and the study of eight others.
Regaining control of EDF’s structure
The candidate is still very vague on the financing of these future units, the cost of which could be around 52 billion euros. However, one of the great difficulties of nuclear power is to obtain financing from the markets, with many investors preferring to move towards sectors deemed less risky. The State thus hopes to ensure a lower cost of financing by raising debt directly on the markets.
Such a renationalisation, if carried out in the months following the presidential election and without a capital increase, could cost the State between 5 billion and 6 billion euros, depending on the share price. It will then be necessary to ensure, either through public finances or by increasing bills, the financing of future reactors, which are not expected before, at best, 2037.
But this option has another advantage for Emmanuel Macron: regaining control of the structure of EDF. The President of the Republic tried unsuccessfully during his five-year term to reshape the group according to a plan called “Hercules”. This attempt ran into opposition from the unions, who denounced a “dismantling”, but also from the European Commission, which is concerned about the group’s domination of the market. The candidate hopes that the takeover leaves more room to put the nuclear activities under the 100% public flag… Which does not exclude selling or opening up the capital of certain activities.
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