PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to reduce the government’s corporate holdings is taking shape with details set to be unveiled next month on the sale of a stake in lottery operator FDJ.The government will present a privatization plan May 16 that will also include Aeroports de Paris, an airport operator, and former gas monopoly Engie SA, Le Journal du Dimanche reported on Sunday, without saying where it got the information.
The nation is unusual among big western European countries in that it has a broad portfolio of stakes in publicly traded companies, such as Orange SA and Electricite de France SA, in addition to closely held businesses such as military shipbuilder DCNSand FDJ.
FDJ is among the world’s biggest lottery groups and its tickets and scratch cards can be bought at tobacco outlets across France. The company pays more than 3 billion euros each year to the state.
The French state has just over a 50 percent stake in ADP, which operates the Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports serving Paris along with other hubs around the world. Toll road operator Vinci SA, which owns 8 percent of ADP, was weighing an offer for a controlling stake in ADP, people familiar with the matter said in June last year.
