| Agence des participations de l'État | |
| Type: | Government agency |
| Formed: | 2004 |
| Jurisdiction: | France |
| Motto: | Incarner l'État actionnaire |
| Employees: | 53 (2018) |
| Minister1 Name: | Ministry of the Economy and Finance |
Agence des participations de l'État (APE,), created in 2004 under the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, is the French agency responsible for managing the State's shareholdings in companies of strategic importance.[1] As of 2022, APE has €732.514 billion worth of assets under management, which includes investments in companies involved in energy, industry, defence, transport, communication and finance, among others.[2]
The State participation agency is a Service à compétence nationale (service with national competence) created in September 2004.[3] The creation of the Agency responded to the need to clarify the role of a shareholder of the State and the promotion of its patrimonial interests alongside the regulatory functions, tax collection, sectoral supervision, buyer that the State exercises.
This first step provided the State with a structure embodying and exclusively exercising its role as a shareholder. The second step was to endow the APE with greater autonomy. The appointment of a State Equity Commissioner, reporting directly to the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance, completed the process. Since May 2017, the APE has 88 companies [4] in its portfolio.
Since 2001, the activity of the State shareholder has been traced every year in a report appended to the draft Loi de finances en France (Finance law in France).[5]
The main operations carried out by the agency were:
The four missions of the Agency are as follows: Foster the economic performance of companies, their profitability and their long-term development; Act as a wise shareholder in corporate governance companies; Manage the portfolio of investments through acquisitions, disposals or shareholder mergers; Promote the exemplarity and social and environmental responsibility of companies.[7]
The agency exercises the usual responsibilities of shareholders. In particular, the members of the agency represent the State on the boards of directors. The agency “ensures a sufficient level of control in companies operating in sectors that are particularly sensitive in terms of sovereignty”. It enforces political decisions in corporate governance, such as feminization, and executive compensation.
Since 2017, the Agency has revised its shareholder strategy.[8] From now on, the State is intended to be a shareholder in three types of companies: strategic companies which contribute to sovereignty (defense and nuclear), companies participating in public service missions or of national or local general interest for which regulation would be insufficient to preserve public interests and ensure public service missions, companies in difficulty whose disappearance could lead to a systemic risk.
The successive directors have been:
For the performance of its missions, the APE has a tight team of 53 people, mostly civil servants. As of July 1, 2019, it had 27 senior executives and investment managers (General management and investment management) traditionally from engineering bodies (44%), but also, in order to diversify profiles, from other bodies. (30% civil administrators, 33% civil servants from other bodies - INSEE, Banque de France, IGF, Cour des comptes) or contract employees. Nearly 30% of the senior managers of the APE are also graduates of a major business school. The areas of expertise (financial, legal, audit and accounting and communication), support functions and secretariats employ 26 people.[14]
Resulting from historical stratification, the entities falling within the scope of APE represent both companies in various sectors (services and finance, energy, transport, industry) and multiple statutes – public limited companies in the majority of cases, but also public institutions of an industrial and commercial nature (établissements publics à caractère industriel et commercial - EPIC).[15]
| Company | Direct state ownership | Indirect state ownership | Industry | Products/Services/Activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Électricité de France (EDF) | 100% | energy | electricity | ||
| Engie (formerly GDF-Suez) | 23.64% | energy | electricity, natural gas | ||
| Réseau de Transport d'Électricité (RTE) | 100% via CTE | energy | electricity transmission | ||
| 100% | energy | nuclear reactor (Olkiluoto 3) | |||
| energy | nuclear reactors | ||||
| 70.60% (20.30% via CEA) | 29.30% (20.30% via Naval Group; 9.00% via EDF) | energy | nuclear propulsion, research reactor | ||
| 79.90% | mining, energy | nuclear fuel | |||
| 27.13% via FSI-Equation | mining, metallurgy | manganese, nickel, steel alloys | |||
| 25.70% | electronics | advanced electrical systems | |||
| 15.01% | automotive | automobiles, commercial vehicles | |||
| 10.90% via SOGEPA | aerospace, defence | civil and military aircraft, space systems | |||
| 11.20% | aerospace, defence | aircraft and rocket engines, missiles, electronics, space systems | |||
| 84.30% | shipbuilding | cruise ships, ocean liners, tankers, cargo ships, warships | |||
| Office français d'exportation d'armement (ODAS) | 100% | defence | advanced weapons systems | ||
| 62.25% | defence | warships, submarines | |||
| KNDS (formerly KMW+Nexter Defense Systems) | 50% | defence | artillery, munitions, military vehicles, tanks, defence electronics | ||
| Défense Conseil International (DCI) | 49.90% | defence | defense advisory, training and operational assistance | ||
| 100% | communication | television, radio and online broadcasting | |||
| 100% | communication | television, radio and online broadcasting | |||
| 100% | communication | radio broadcasting | |||
| 40.00% (15% via INA) | 60% (45% via France Télévisions; 15% via Radio France) | communication | television broadcasting, film | ||
| 13.40% | communication | landline and mobile network operations, television service, internet | |||
| 34.00% | communication, transport, finance | mail and parcel services, mobile network operation, banking, insurance | |||
| Banque publique d'investissement (Bpifrance) | finance | SME and startup financing, equity investment, export credit | |||
| 46.81% | finance | banking, insurance | |||
| Société de prise de participation de l'Etat (SPPE) | 100% | finance | investing in bank securities | ||
| 100% | finance | coins, medals | |||
| 100% | printing | identification cards, licenses, passports | |||
| 33.34% | 18.80% (13.20% via the City of Paris; 5.60% via the Val-de-Marne department) | food | wholesale food | ||
| Laboratoire français du fractionnement et des biotechnologies (LFB) | 100% | health | blood plasma, medicines | ||
| Société pour le logement intermédiaire (SLI) | 100% | real estate | intermediate rental housing | ||
| 28.60% | transport | airline services | |||
| Aéroports de Paris (ADP) | 50.60% | transport | airport operations | ||
| 100% | transport | airport operations | |||
| Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF) | 100% | transport | inter-city and regional railway services | ||
| Régie autonome des transports parisiens (RATP) | 100% | transport | |||
| Port complex of Le Havre-Rouen-Paris (HAROPA Port) | 100% | transport | port operations | ||
| 100% | transport | port operations | |||
| Caisse nationale des autoroutes (CNA) | 100% | transport, finance | motorway construction financing | ||
| Autoroutes et tunnel du Mont-Blanc (ATMB) | 67.30% via FDPITMA | transport | motorway tunnel operation | ||
| Société française du tunnel routier du Fréjus (SFTRF) | 99.90% via FDPITMA | transport | motorway tunnel operation | ||
| Française des Jeux (FDJ) | 20.46% | gaming | lottery, sports betting | ||
| Coentreprise de Transport d’Électricité (CTE) | 59.91% (50.01% via EDF; 29.90% via Caisse des dépôts) | holding company | |||
| Société FSI-Equation | 100% | holding company | |||
| Societé de Gestion de Participations Aéronautiques (SOGEPA) | 100% | holding company | |||
| Fonds pour le Développement d’une Politique Intermodale des Transports dans le Massif Alpin (FDPITMA) | 100% | holding company |