Pinault's games on the Suez canal

3 Jan 2007 By Pierre Briancon

The French billionaire doesn’t want to say if he will bid for the giant utility. That’s because he is still trying to line up the finance. The French regulator should give Pinault time to do so because it may be in the interest of Suez shareholders. But not too long.

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Francois Pinault, the French businessman and retired founder of retail and luxury group PPR, said Tuesday that he had taken no decision about a possible bid for French utility Suez. Pinault published a statement through his family holding company Artemis to answer a request by Autorite des Marches Financiers, the French market watchdog. He added that all options remain open concerning Suez. The AMF said its governing body would meet in the coming days to decide whether Pinault's statement complied with its new regulations on takeovers.

The AMF was acting on rumours that Pinault, who is interested in Suez' water division, was considering a E70bn full bid for the company. According to the reports, he would sell back the bulk of Suez its energy assets to Gaz de France, the stateowned gas distributor. GdF is officially planning to merge with Suez, but the controversial merger is widely seen in jeopardy after a court decision pushed its execution back to July 2007.

JeanFrancois Cope, the spokesman for the French government, reiterated Wednesday that it "clearly and strongly" supports the SuezGdF merger.

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