Leaders of the purchaser in the series of struggling industrial sites Europlasma (Fonderie de Bretagne, Valdunes, Forges de Tarbes) assured on Thursday during a parliamentary hearing that the potential buyer of the group’s defense activities was a “French industrialist in the defense sector, who has a long career in defense.”
They also indicated that the company informed the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) before its communication and that the potential investor had “met with the DGA”, the Directorate General of Armaments. “Today everyone knows who it is at the DGA and the Minarm,” the Ministry of the Armed Forces affirmed Jérôme Garnache-Creuillot, who was auditioned as part of an investigative committee on the “predation of productive capacities by hedge funds.”
“We did not decide to sell off all defense activities but to seek a partner,” specified Jérôme Garnache-Creuillot. However, his company announced on April 10 negotiations “for the sale of its defense-related activities for 150 million euros.”
Suspicion of stock price manipulation
Questioned on April 15 by deputies of the Defense Committee on the situation of Europlasma, the delegate general to Armaments, Patrick Pailloux, had indicated that he was following “obviously the situation very closely.” “The project is anything but final and finalized,” he said, counting much on the forges of Tarbes and the Fonderie de Bretagne.
The LFI deputy rapporteur for the investigating mission, Aurélie Trouvé, stated during the hearing that she had reported Europlasma’s communication to the AMF “for suspicion of stock price manipulation” and that the stock market watchdog had “responded by saying that (it) would study the case.” Europlasma, listed on the stock exchange, has not yet communicated its 2025 annual results, more than three months after the end of the fiscal year.
