The bogged-down issue of capital markets union is back on the table. French President Emmanuel Macron wants to facilitate business financing, by calling on the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) and private investors, and by relaunching the European capital markets union project, he said on Tuesday. Emmanuel Macron spoke in a video message broadcast during the annual conference of the stock exchange operator Euronext
The French head of state relies on a bill, presented at the beginning of March by Renaissance MP Alexandre Holroyd, on the attractiveness of the Paris financial center, and presents new measures to “facilitate market financing” French companies. A challenge in the context of ecological and digital transition which is increasing needs. First concerned: small, medium and intermediate-sized companies (SMEs and ETIs), which currently attract less investors on the Paris Stock Exchange than large companies.
To improve this situation, the State wants to mobilize the CDC (Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations), via an investment program of 500 million euros which will be used to take shares in investment funds placing money in SMEs and ETIs. Emmanuel Macron also wants to “examine the possibilities” of simplifying the eligibility criteria for action savings plans for small and medium-sized enterprises (PEA-PME). He also wants savings placed in retirement savings plans (PER) and life insurance, managed by private institutional investors, to be directed a little more towards SMEs and mid-caps.
The green industry law provided for “a measure of orientation” of these savings towards companies, “part of this direction will be devoted to listed companies”, indicated Emmanuel Macron. Other administrative simplification measures, in particular to facilitate stock market entries, will be added to this system and the proposed law on attractiveness plans to encourage the development of shares with multiple voting rights, “a much-awaited step forward, in particular, by our start-ups,” according to the president.
This mechanism, common in the United States, allows the founders of a company to raise capital while maintaining greater control than with ordinary shares. On the European side, “it is urgent to make concrete progress towards a union of capital markets at European level,” launched Emmanuel Macron, who believes that this subject “should be a priority for the next mandate” of the European Commission .
France, he said, wants in particular to “discuss with our partners harmonized savings products at European level to finance our companies with equity” and “progress towards single supervision” of market infrastructures, a second a subject far from being consensual within Member States.
