French government rules out La Poste privatisation but unions express doubts
French Prime Minister François Fillon ruled out the possibility of La Poste’s privatisation in an interview with the French newspaper Les Echos.
“I am convinced that La Poste will need financial resources to develop further if it doesn’t want to see other European companies take its place. This will not happen through privatisation,” Fillon told the newspaper in an interview. To ensure the financing of La Poste, Fillon considers among other options the possibility of the French savings bank “la Caisse des depôts” becoming a strategic partner of La Poste.
The French postal unions including CGT, Sud-PTT, FO, CFDT and CFTC, which took nationwide strike action last week against government plans to change the legal status of the public postal operator, expressed their doubts about Fillon’s statement.
In late August, La Poste unveiled plans to restructure into a limited company in 2010 and to float a minority holding on the stock exchange in 2011 in order to raise EUR 2.5 – EUR 3.5 billion for growth, including acquisitions. French media have referred to a possible IPO involving a 10-20 pct stake. La Poste had already signed a four-year public service contract with the French government in July, covering commitments to mail deliveries six days a week and mail delivery quality targets, and the maintenance of 17,000 postal service points across France.
French Prime Minister François Fillon ruled out the possibility of La Poste’s privatisation in an interview with the French newspaper Les Echos.
“I am convinced that La Poste will need financial resources to develop further if it doesn’t want to see other European companies take its place. This will not happen through privatisation,” Fillon told the newspaper in an interview. To ensure the financing of La Poste, Fillon considers among other options the possibility of the French savings bank “la Caisse des depôts” becoming a strategic partner of La Poste.
The French postal unions including CGT, Sud-PTT, FO, CFDT and CFTC, which took nationwide strike action last week against government plans to change the legal status of the public postal operator, expressed their doubts about Fillon’s statement.
“The statements of the Prime Minister are nothing but a lure”, claimed Sud-PTT, estimating that the hypothesis about including la Caisse des Dépôts did not at all shield La Poste from privatisation. The union FO commented that the statement was a strategic step that did not in any way solve the real problem, adding that Fillon did not exclude explicitly the creation of a stock corporation. “It is not enough to say that one wants to turn towards la Caisse des dépôts”, the union added. “This strategic partnership clearly needs to include the postal bank (La Banque postale) within the legal structure subject to the unity of the group.”
In late August, La Poste unveiled plans to restructure into a limited company in 2010 and to float a minority holding on the stock exchange in 2011 in order to raise EUR 2.5 – EUR 3.5 billion for growth, including acquisitions. French media have referred to a possible IPO involving a 10-20 pct stake. La Poste had already signed a four-year public service contract with the French government in July, covering commitments to mail deliveries six days a week and mail delivery quality targets, and the maintenance of 17,000 postal service points across France.
