The French finance ministry last month announced plans to sell 10 billion euros worth of stakes in state-owned companies in order to raise money for a new fund to finance innovation, an election pledge of President Emmanuel Macron.
Banking sources told Reuters the first privatizations are likely to be launched between the end of this month and early October. French national lottery company Française des Jeux (FDJ) is likely to be high on the list for a partial privatization.
FDJ is 72 % state owned and investment banks have proposed several scenarios, including selling a stake to a content operator or another European lottery company. With 26 million players and turnover of 14.3 billion euros last year, FDJ is Europe’s second-biggest lottery after Italy’s Lottomatica.
"Investment banks have pitched a lot of proposals, but nothing has been decided,” one of the sources said. FDJ declined to comment
Source: GMB / Lotnext
