The Metropolitan Council authorized the sale of 4% of its shares in the management company of Nice Airport to the Banque des Territoires, a branch of the Caisse de Dépôt et Consignations, a usual partner of Nice’s local authorities in financing infrastructures.
The operation had already been announced a few days ago.
The proceeds from this sale will allow the Metropolis, as Christian Estrosi clarified at the end of the session—who, serving as an administrator on the Supervisory Board of the management company, did not participate in the debate—to continue its investment policy (€140 million per year), reduce debt (with €30 million dedicated to this), and lower taxes (already started but with likely more room for additional measures to be announced during the presentation of the 2020 budget).
Faced with an opposition that did not miss the opportunity to express its sharpest criticisms, the case was defended by Philippe Pradal, the President of the Finance Commission. “Nice Airport must remain at the service of the territory. […] We chose the Banque des Territoires due to the trust we have in them. The metropolis will retain 1% of the shares, allowing us to continue participating in the supervisory board and keep informed about strategic decisions.”
In fact, from a strategic point of view, this sale will not change the situation. There is a common interest among all shareholders for the airport to continue its expansion and yield good management and financial results. This is evidently the case in terms of investments and returns, as key figures show year after year.
Financially speaking, the Banque des Territoires is certainly a reliable investor, not inclined toward shareholder trading or speculation.
Therefore, owning 1% or 5% makes little difference; as an internationally renowned banker once said, “shares are not counted, but weighed!”
The issue, if there is one, stems from the fact that during the privatization process, Christian Estrosi fought tooth and nail to prevent it, declaring that the City of Nice could be a buyer (?!), mounting a fierce media campaign against the then-Minister of Economy, one Emmanuel Macron, before concluding with organizing a sort of referendum, with a plebiscite result also thanks to a costly propaganda campaign with misleading tones, in which less than 20% of Nic residents participated (raising the question of why residents of other municipalities were excluded, given the airport’s impact, at least regionally).
The thing about history is that facts always catch up with you, sooner or later: what a pleasure for the opponents (Benoît Kandel, Guillaume Aral, Claire George, Patrick Allemand, whose intervention deserves reading) to remind Christian Estrosi of his wandering and errors in calculation and prediction.
The fact was that at the time, François Hollande was at the Elysée, with Nicolas Sarkozy leading Les Républicains and aspiring to return, hence any occasion was good to criticize the socialist government.
Who could have predicted that, two years later, Christian Estrosi would call to vote for the very person he had called all sorts of names to enter the Elysée, before becoming a Macron-compatible local administrator?
Reflection? Action? The important thing is to do them in the right order!
