The French Ministry of Economy asked EDF to “reopen” the archive for the sale of its technological pepitas exam, specialized in supercalculators, to the American Mara group, learned BFM Business from Bercy, on Friday, August 22, confirming information from the echoes.
“It is as if we suspend the procedure with Mara (an American company specialized in technologies linked to digital assets) the time to examine again,” said the Ministry of the Economy, and added that the archive is in the hands of EDF, arrested by the State 100%and the State Participation Agency (APE).
Do not “sell the French technology pepitas”
EDF formalized on August 11, the signing of an agreement that provides the acquisition of Mara of 64% in the exam of 168 million euros, which increases criticism about the sale of French strategic assets to foreign countries. The Exion company, a subsidiary of the French energy company, is developing high -performance calculation data centers and has positioned itself in the block chain, becoming an important player in the sector.
In any case, there is “a certain number of previous authorizations before achieving an effective sale,” says Bercy, according to which there are now three scenarios: EDF decides not to give in the exam, or look for another investor in particular Europe, or the sale in Mara continues. In this case, the treasure would trigger a procedure to control foreign investments (IEF) whose potential block must be motivated.
Be attractive to foreign investors
“Exion operates activities that are not strategic or sovereign, such as EDF or a defense company, but entails technologies that can be extremely important in the future and for which one could be interested in maintaining a part of the sovereignty or complete sovereignty,” said the Ministry of Economy.
“The investment agreement in the exion subsidiary between Mara and EDF Pulse Ventures is subject to several preceding conditions, including the control of foreign investments in France,” EDF reacted on Friday in a press release.
Source: BFM TV
