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Western EuropeJuly 1 2004

French savings merger spawns a global player

French government efforts to encourage mergers between state-owned and private banks are paying off, says Jan Wagner. But Germany’s Sparkassen are resisting efforts to get them to follow suit.
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Sanofi-Synthelabo’s takeover of Aventis, its larger Franco-German rival, is making headlines not just because the merger is one of the largest ever in the pharmaceuticals industry. The deal is also big news because of the French government’s unabashed involvement in it. Eager to create a national champion in pharmaceuticals, the government lobbied Sanofi hard to improve its takeover bid so Aventis would remain in French hands.

The merger is set to take place this month, along with another, which – though also semi-engineered by the French government for the same purpose – has had far less attention. Caisse d’Epargne, a group of French savings banks with a co-operative shareholder structure, is merging with Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), a state-owned commercial bank and asset manager.

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