Rethinking & Redesigning
the French Government
as a Shareholder
Eric Preiss
General Secretary
French Government Shareholding Agency
Policy Dialogue on Corporate Governance in China
Shanghai
February 25-26, 2004
4 février 2004
Agence des participations –KT 1
Rethinking …
• Government-owned companies are concerned, like all
companies, by the debate about corporate
governance prompted by bankruptcies of big public
companies
• Recent controversies surrounding the financial
situation of some French Government-owned
companies (EDF, France Telecom) triggered a major
reform
4 février 2004
Agence des participations –KT 2
Redesigning…
The reform in three steps (1)
1) Currently operational : the creation of an Agency
dedicated to the governance and value optimisation
of the Government-owned companies and bodies
Announced by Francis Mer, Minister of Finance, in March 2003, and
set up while dealing with major “transactions” and “day to day”
business
a mix between the government culture and the model of private
holdings
Increased human resources with mixed culture of skills
Self-managed structure (€10m budget) within the Treasury framework
Task force under the authority of the Minister
Increased transparency and public information
4 février 2004
Agence des participations –KT 3
Redesigning…
The reform in three steps (2)
2) In progress : ‘code of good practice’ between the
Agency and the Government-owned companies,
including :
Enhanced relations with the top management
Regular update and reporting
Corporate governance reinforcement
3) To be achieved : changes in the legal and
regulatory framework that sets out the rules
applicable to the Government as a shareholder
4 février 2004
Agence des participations –KT 4
‘code of good practices’ baselines
The code is designed to be the contractual
framework between the Government owned
companies and the Agency.
1) Enhanced relations with the top management
Regular update and reporting (every month)
Top management meetings
2) Corporate governance reinforcement
Representation of the Agency in the boards of directors
Improvement of strategic discussions in the boards of directors
Development of specialized committees
Generalization of board of directors’ internal rules of operation
Improvement of financial information
Improvement of the efficiency of boards of directors
4 février 2004
Agence des participations –KT 5
Overview of the Agency portfolio
Transport Energy
ADP, ASF,
EDF, Gaz de France
Air France,
Media AREVA, COGEMA,
SNCF, RFF, RATP,
Alstom
Renault
France Télévision,
Industry Radio France, Services
AFP
Thales, EADS, GIAT,
France Telecom
SNECMA,
La Poste, CNP
SNPE, DCN, BULL
4 février 2004
Agence des participations –KT 6
Key figures of the Agency portfolio
• Nearly 70 Companies and Bodies
• More than 1 million workers (5% of working
population)
• €200bn of revenues
• €60bn of capital
• €150bn of debt
4 février 2004
Agence des participations –KT 7