La Poste is to be restructured into a limited company next January and its capital opened to publicinvestors to raise some €2.7 billion for modernisation and strategic growth but there will be no
partial privatisation via a share sale, according to a draft law.Industry secretary and government spokesman Luc Chatel, who presented the bill on Tuesday,announced that the government wanted to generate €2.7 billion worth of investment in La Postethrough a capital increase in order to enable it to prepare for full postal liberalisation in 2011.The French government would contribute €1.2 billion and the state-owned Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) afurther €1.5 billion of the total capital increase.
La Poste requires €2.7 billion in additional financing until 2012 for its strategic plan tomodernise mail operations and expand its express and parcel businesses, the Ailleret Commissioninto the future of La Poste concluded. However, this external financing cannot be obtained as longas it remains a public organisation, and a restructuring into a limited company is thus necessary,Chatel said.
Nevertheless, the French government also wanted to ensure that the country’s postal operatorremained 100% public owned, he stressed. “The capital of La Poste will be entirely held by thestate or public investors. However, a proportion could be held in future by employees,” thegovernment spokesman stated.
Under the draft law, La Poste’s public service obligations, including letter deliveries sixdays a week, affordable prices and high quality as well as maintaining 17,000 postal outletsnationwide, would remain unchanged. La Poste would also be charged with fulfilling the postalUniversal Service Obligation for the next 15 years as “an additional guarantee”. In addition, thebill will transpose the third EU postal directive on full market opening into French law.
The French government is expected to formally agree on the bill on July 27 and it will thenbe presented to Parliament in the autumn, Chatel said. Approval is expected by the end of the year.This would enable La Poste to become a limited company as of January 1, 2010. This timescale “givesLa Poste one year to prepare itself well for the market opening on January 1, 2011, with its newstatute and the resulting capital increase,” Chatel explained.
French postal unions responded critically to the plan and are due to discuss a formal jointposition today. La Poste is one of France’s largest employers with some 300,000 staff.
