A beginning of a tense discussion with staff representatives, a severe clash with the president and general manager of the newspaper, Jean-Christophe Serfati, who ordered him to leave the premises, Xavier Niel will only have spent ten minutes , Wednesday March 2, inside the premises of Provence, newspaper in which he is a minority shareholder (11% of the capital). Econduit, the founder of Free (and individual shareholder of the World) however continued his discussions throughout the morning in premises adjoining the company, with union officials wishing to hear what he had to say to them.
The episode, eventful and quite surreal, is part of the merciless fight between Xavier Niel and the boss of the shipowner CMA CGM, Rodolphe Saadé, for the purchase of 89% of the shares of Provence previously belonging to Bernard Tapie, who died in October 2021. On February 15, following the second call for tenders launched by the judicial liquidators of the deceased businessman’s group, the Bobigny court validated the offer from CMA CGM as the best bidder.
A new argument
To the 20 million euros put on the table by NJJ, the holding company of Mr. Niel, Rodolphe Saadé responded with a purchase proposal of 81 million euros, that is to say double the best expertise. Since then, his project to take over the newspaper, with the maintenance of a printing press in Marseille and a promise to invest between 12 and 20 million euros in the development of the group, has won the support of some of the employees and union representatives. . For its part, the court of Marseilles estimated on February 24 that only the best-priced offer should be presented to the employees within the framework of the legal procedure of consultation, bringing a new argument to the opponents of Xavier Niel.
As a minority shareholder, Xavier Niel can buy the newspaper on condition that he aligns himself with the best offer, which he no longer rules out
On Wednesday, the boss of Free nevertheless intended to be able to detail “his perspective as a minority shareholder” to staff representatives. At 9:45 a.m., arriving on foot with Anthony Maarek, general manager of NJJ and group representative in the Southeast, Xavier Niel shows a big smile: “I did not come to present my offer, I came to meet the employees of Provence. They asked me to explain what I intend to do over time,” he assures before entering the enclosure of the newspaper.
On the forecourt, some staff representatives express their hostility at the sight of a shareholder they castigate ” contempt “. “He comes now because he is worried. At the time of the call for tenders, we asked him to present his project to us, he always ignored us”, creaks Jean-Paul Frauziol, secretary of the CSE of Eurosud, the subsidiary of Provence. “His offer was deemed null and void by the courts. By coming today, he’s disrupting the legal process, explains Ouiam Edhahbi, representative of the CSE of Sud Presse Distribution. We will listen to him if he presents an offer at the time of his right to pre-emption. » As a minority shareholder, he can buy the newspaper on the condition of aligning himself with the best offer, which he no longer rules out. “Niel believes he is above justice. These are thug methods,” growls Isabelle Luccioni, Labor Force Delegate at Corse-Matin.
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