Bollore : Vincent Bolloré indicted

Publication date 26/04/2018 10:06 - Writing date 26/04/2018 10:05 - - - - - - - Equity data - Reco : Buy - Target : 5.00 EUR - Equity Analyst : Bruno Hareng - [email protected] - +33 (0)1 44 51 86 72 - ESG Analyst : Valentin Pernet - Corporate Governance: Moderate risk (3) - / - / - 01/06/18 : AGM - VOTE - / - Chairman and CEO of Bolloré, Vincent Bolloré along with the head of Havas' international division Jean-Philippe Dorent and CEO of the Bolloré Group Gilles Alix were placed in police custody for two days and came out of the Parisian financial judges' office last night with an indictment. - Investigating judges are attempting to determine if the Bolloré group used the political advisory services of its Havas subsidiary to win contracts to manage the ports of Lomé in Togo, and Conakry in Guinea, through another group subsidiary, Bolloré Africa Logistics (previously called SDV). - In this context, we are lowering our recommendation from Buy to Reduce. We are not, however, alarmist about the financial situation of the Bolloré group, but we believe that there will be better entry points in the coming weeks to come back to the signature. - Indeed, bonds will remain under pressure with great volatility until this legal risk is settled. - > - Facts - This probe, initiated by a complaint by Bolloré's former French Spanish business associate Jacques Dupuydauby, focuses on the advice provided by Havas in 2010 during the successful presidential campaigns of Alpha Condé in Guinea and Faure Gnassingbé in Togo. Both used the advisory services of Havas, managed by Mr Dorent.. In Guinea, SDV won the tender for the Conakry port a few months after Mr Condé's election. Elected in November 2010, Guinea's new president Alpha Condé dislodged manu militari Necotrans, the Conakry concession holder in March 2011, arguing that the promised investments were not made and local staff was not trained. At the time, the Guinean regulators awarded the contract to the second-ranked player in the tender, i.e. the Bolloré group. In mid1eMarch 2011, Necotrans lodged a complaint in Paris, accusing Vincent Bolloré to have financed Alpha Condé's presidential election campaign via the communications agency Euro RSCG/Havas but the case was dropped. Even so, Bolloré was sentenced by the Nanterre commercial court in October 2013 to pay Nectorans more than € 2m (vs. € 100m in damages claimed by Necotrans) for some of the actual investments made by its competitor.In June 2017, Necotrans was placed under receivership and acquired shortly afterwards by the Bolloré group.