the State will confirm the purchase of 80% of Alcatel Submarine Networks in Calais

This activity, deemed “strategic”, is the subject of an investment which must be “profitable”, assures the Minister of the Economy.

The State gets its hands on most of Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN). The Minister of Economy and Finance, Antoine Armand, will travel to Calais on Tuesday, November 5 to confirm the purchase of 80% of the company which produces and installs submarine cables. Antoine Armand “will sign the ASN acquisition contract”in the presence of employees of the company's site in Calais, where it employs some 600 people out of a total of 1,370 in France, his office said on Monday. He will be accompanied by the mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart.

In June, the government signed a purchase promise to acquire 80% of ASN, the former submarine cable division of Alcatel held since 2015 by the Finnish Nokia, for around 100 million euros.

The company, valued at 350 million euros, is one of the world leaders in the sector with around a third of market share, is judged “strategic”particularly in an international context marked by several conflicts, as Antoine Armand assured in an interview with The Voice of the North.

“It is a strategic investment in the sense of national sovereignty, of direct interest for our critical infrastructures, for the national and European industrial strategy that we are deploying.”

The Minister of the Economy, Antoine Armand

at “La Voix du Nord”

“But it is also (…) an investment that will be profitable”he stressed. While ASN currently has a turnover of one billion euros, “the idea in the projections is that it doubles, that it triples in the coming years.” “The submarine cable is one of three or four, perhaps maximum, critical infrastructures of tomorrow. In the ability to control what we transmit, know what we transmit, be able to maintain this connection to world, it’s vital. It’s a growing sector that has great vitality.”added the minister. Considered critical, submarine cables provide almost all of the world's digital communications.

The agreement ultimately provides for the possibility for the State to acquire 100% of ASN's capital. Nokia retains a 20% minority share to facilitate the transition. The French State will be “a long-term shareholder” via the State Participation Agency (APE), declared the latter: “The challenge is to develop the company’s activity and ensure its strongest possible growth in the coming years.”

Concerning the role of the State shareholder, Antoine Armand affirmed that he intended to present, by the beginning of 2025, “a plan to evolve and strengthen” the APE portfolio, which has stakes in 85 companies worth around €180 billion at the end of June.