Among enduring myths is the one that France is a nationalist fortress that keeps all foreign competition at bay and is the last remaining developed country still stuck on state intervention rather than free markets as the preferred economic model.
Little known facts: there is a higher level of ownership of top French companies than of either US or UK large companies (see article page 32). The country’s takeover rules gives it one of the most open legal frameworks in continental Europe. Foreign banks are now regularly present in French M&A battles and in the recent hostile takeover of French steel company Arcelor by Mittal, the foreign company was represented by none other than leading French bank Société Générale.
