Suez board open to Veolia talks if offer improved -chairman

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08/03/2021 21:46

PARIS, March 8 (Reuters) - The board of French waste and
water group Suez  SEVI.PA  is ready to discuss a tie-up with
Veolia  VIE.PA  if its domestic rival raises its takeover offer
and strengthens job guarantees, Chairman Philippe Varin told Le
Figaro on Monday.
    The preconditions laid down by Suez may open the way for a
resolution to the standoff triggered by Engie's  ENGIE.PA 
October sale of a 29.9% Suez stake to Veolia - which followed up
in February with a takeover offer worth 18 euros per Suez share,
rejected by its board.
    The saga has pitted Varin and Suez Chief Executive Bertrand
Camus against Veolia CEO Antoine Frerot, who has said he plans
to present a revised offer this week. It has also prompted
fruitless French government attempts to broker a deal.
    Varin, who enlisted support from private equity funds Ardian
and GIP that stopped short of a counterbid, said preconditions
for direct talks with the Suez board included an offer "well
above" 18 euros and the extension of proposed job guarantees to
four years, and to overseas workers.
    Other assurances sought by Varin cover research and
development activities and an opportunity for Suez to present
its response to the new offer directly to Veolia's board.
    "It is only on these conditions that we can enter a
negotiating phase," Varin told the French daily.
      
    
    

 (Reporting by Laurence Frost in Paris
Editing by Matthew Lewis)
 ((laurence.frost@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 4949 5683
@Laurence_Frost DMs on; Reuters Messaging: N/A))