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12 octobre 2015
France Said to Weigh Sale of Stake in ADP to
Back Areva
Helene Fouquet
Blaise Robinson
Richard Weiss
October 12, 2015 — 9:34 AM CEST Updated on October 12, 2015 — 12:18 PM CEST
French state owns 50.63 percent of the airports operator
The 2016 budget targets raising 5 billion euros in stake sales
France is considering cutting its stake in Aeroports de Paris to below 50 percent to raise funds as it
seeks to bolster troubled nuclear reactor builder Areva SA, people familiar with the plan said.
The government, which oversees the Agence des Participations de l’Etat, or APE — the state
shareholding agency that owns 50.63 percent of Aeroports de Paris — is studying the divestment of a
stake in the operator of Paris’s two main airports, the people said, asking not to be named since the
plan isn’t public. The state has overcome its long-held reluctance to relinquish its controlling stake in
a company it considers strategic, one of the people said.
In France’s 2016 budget law, the government has targeted raising about 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion)
through stake sales. The government has earmarked 2 billion euros of that to cut debt, with the rest
for industrial projects. Areva will feature prominently among the recipients, Finance Minister Michel
Sapin said in an interview on Oct. 5.
Areva said in July it will need to raise 3.4 billion euros, mostly through a capital increase, to reduce its
debt. The company posted a record 4.8 billion-euro loss last year as it took new charges for cost
overruns at nuclear plant projects in France and Finland, and separate renewable energy projects. It
also had to write down assets amid slowing demand for nuclear fuel and services in countries
including Japan and Germany in the wake of the Fukushima accident in 2011.
For France, cutting the state’s stake in ADP below 50 percent would require the passing of a bill by
both houses of parliament. If the government becomes a minority shareholder in the company, it can
create a golden share to give it a decisive say over what it sees as a strategic asset.
Investor Day
The state’s mulling of the ADP stake sale comes as the company prepares to unveil to investors
Monday its 2016-2020 strategic plan.
Other major ADP shareholders include Vinci SA, with an 8 percent stake, Schiphol Group, with 8
percent, and Predica, with 4.8 percent. One of the people said both Vinci, which raised its stake in
ADP in 2013 from 3.3 percent, and Predica, a Paris-based investment fund, would be interested in
increasing their holdings in the company.
ADP and the state agency APE declined to comment on a possible sale. A spokesman for Vinci
wouldn’t comment on the company’s potential interest in raising its stake in ADP. A spokeswoman for
the French economy minister didn’t have immediate comments.
ADP has a market capitalization of about 10.7 billion euros. The French state has already trimmed its
stake in ADP a few times since 2008. The most recent sale occurred in 2013 when about 1.5 million
shares - or roughly 1.5 percent of the company’s outstanding shares - were sold at a volume-weighted
average price of 65.04 euros, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.
Richly Valued
Since then, the stock has climbed about 70 percent. The shares traded 0.9 percent lower at 108.50
euros as of 12:16 p.m. on Monday. The stock is up 8.2 percent in 2015, just shy of France’s broad SBF
120 index’s 9 percent gain.
Despite recent market volatility, the timing for selling shares in ADP seems attractive. The stock
trades at rich valuation levels : 21.8 times earnings expected in the next 12 months. That’s above the
17.3 times for German rival Fraport AG and well above 14.8 times for the SBF 120 index. The stock
also trades at 2.7 times book value, while both Fraport and the SBF 120 index trade at 1.6 time book
value.
Airports have become prized assets as infrastructure and pension funds seek long-term investments
amid low interest rates, sending prices soaring. That helped the Dow Jones Brookfield Airports
Infrastructure Index more than double in the past 5 years, compared to a 31 percent gain in the MSCI
World Index.
Few Options
President Francois Hollande has few financial options to help Areva. He can’t dig into the state’s
coffers after he pledged to cut the deficit to 3.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2016 from 3.8
this year. State spending must drop to 55.1 percent of GDP next year, down from 55.8 percent this
year, Sapin said as he unveiled the 2016 budget law.
The French state has already opened tenders for the sale of the two regional airports of Nice and
Lyon. APE is selling 60 percent of the airports and keeping the remaining share in its unlisted
portfolio. Nice-Cote d’Azur airport, the third-busiest in France, according to its website, could be
valued at about 2 billion euros. Both sales will be completed in the first quarter of next year,
according to APE. ADP has said it’s interested in a stake in the Nice airport. The state sold a stake in
the Toulouse airport last year, and now holds only 10 percent of the operator.
APE has stakes in 77 companies, of which 13 are listed entities. Other potential stakes that France
could divest include telephone carrier Orange SA and Thales SA. The state could also sell some shares
in Safran SA after a divestment of a 3.96 percent stake last March.
Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron has said the state plans to reduce its 19.74 percent stake in
Renault SA to its early 2015 level of 15.1 percent. Yet the divestment may not happen soon. In April
the government bought 4.64 percent in Renault to secure double voting rights. The purchase was
made when the stock was close to its highest this year at around 90 euros per share. Renault traded
at 76.32 euros on Monday.
A shareholding agreement is keeping PSA Peugeot Citroen out of divestment plans. Along with
Chinese partner Dongfeng Motor Corp. and the Peugeot family, the state has a pact under which each
of three owns about 14 percent of the shares. France and Germany also each have a 12 percent stake
in plane maker Airbus SA.