EN FRANCE ON VA TOUT PRIVATISER Will Paris catch the take-over fever gripping New York and London? A series of take-over battles in France during the last few months coupled with government attempts to facilitate hostile bids (in a country where agreed deals are preferred) has aroused speculation that the raiders may soon be crossing the Channel. Now that France has a right-wing government committed to free enterprise and deregulation, say analysts, this seems more probable.
Opinions are divided as to whether the French will ever adopt such aggressive techniques in its industrial rationalization. At present, the bourse only experiences about one hostile bid a year and that rarely succeeds. Indeed, most of the dozen or so annual takeovers are friendly. But what is certain is that France is about to see a sharp revival of conventional merger and acquisition activity. Under the privatization programme due to be pushed through by the government, industrial and financial groups nationalized in 1982 by the socialists (as well as by previous governments) will once again be allowed to buy and sell controlling stakes in companies.
"Sooner or later there will be a wave of hostile take-overs on the French bourse, but it may not occur straight away," commented Bruno Roger of Lazard Freres.