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,
Air France,
SNCF, RFF, RATP,
Renault
Industry
Media
France Télévision,
Radio France,
AFP
Thales, EADS, GIAT,
SNECMA,
SNPE, DCN, BULL
4 février 2004
Agence des participations –KT
EDF, Gaz de France
AREVA, COGEMA,
Alstom
Services
France Telecom
La Poste, CNP
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