the State launches a takeover bid for 9.7 billion euros to renationalise EDF

Back to square one for EDF. In 2005, the group was privatized. In 2022, it is in the process of being renationalised, an operation costing 9.7 billion euros for the State. To fully recover control of EDF, Bercy must buy out the shares of small shareholders. Among them, André-Yves Verdejo, vice-president of EDF Actionnariat Salarié, is not satisfied with the share price proposed by the government.

In 17 years, he has invested several thousand euros in the company, and today considers himself aggrieved. “Many small holders have come in this spirit. Not to stock market, but to make their savings grow, as good fathers of families. Today, they are showered”, he believes. So why such an operation? EDF is over-indebted, possibly 60 billion euros at the end of 2022, according to analysts. The group must manage an aging nuclear fleet and think about the future, with in particular the construction of six new EPRs, for an estimated cost of over 50 billion euros. By renationalising, the State hopes to be able to finance EDF’s future more easily.