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☆ Macron's snap election gamble in France resurfaces an old criticism — that he's arrogant
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Left-leaning newspaper Liberation described the snap election call as an "extreme gamble," while the center-right Le Figaro ran a brief headline Monday: "Le choc" ("shock"). That happened well before the humiliation of the European election results, in which Macron's Renaissance party got less than half as many votes as the far-right Rassemblement National ... In the meantime, other commentators and newspapers, such as Les Echos, have characterized Macron's move as a game of poker. Macron's supporters defend the president as a self-made and ambitious man who has a direct way of speaking to voters. "First, he has interpreted the vote for the European Parliament as a personal insult, as a rejection of his domestic policy direction.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Xi Jinping, Ursula von der Leyen, Gonzalo Fuentes, Emmanuel Macron's, Macron, drubbing, Jordan Bardella, Le Figaro, Alexis Brézet, Fenoglio, Macron's, it's, Robert Ladrech, Chirac Organizations: Reuters, Macron's Renaissance Party, National Assembly, Le Monde, CNBC, Keele University Locations: Paris, France, what's, EU

☆ France is so scared of strikes messing up the Olympics that it is letting air traffic controllers show up 3 hours late to work, and leave 3 hours early
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The union for French air traffic controllers reached a deal to avoid a strike. Les Echos reported it includes authorization to turn up to work three hours late, and leave early. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementFrench air traffic controllers have been given the legal right to turn up three hours late for work, and leave three hours early, Les Echos reported. That's because the National Union for Air Traffic Controllers (SNCTA) reached an agreement that includes ending a practice called "clearances" — where staff could leave work during quiet periods, according to the French newspaper.

Persons: Les Echos, — Organizations: Service, National Union for Air Traffic, Business Locations: Paris

☆ ECB could take bigger role in supervising shadow banks, Enria says
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

European Union (EU) flags fly in front of the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, Germany, July 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsFRANKFURT, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank may need to take on a bigger role in supervising shadow banks as they are now bigger than conventional lenders and may be sitting on elevated risk, the outgoing head of the ECB's supervision arm told European newspapers. "These are different animals to banks, so we shouldn’t expect to supervise them in the same way as we supervise banks." Taking on oversight of shadow banks would require legislative changes, a time consuming process even under the best of circumstances, and requiring broad political agreement. But some have argued that such a change could ease liquidity stress, particularly if shadow banks gained access to the ECB lending operations.

Persons: Ralph Orlowski, Andrea Enria, Expansión, Enria, Balazs Koranyi, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Union, European Central Bank, REUTERS, Rights, prudential, ECB, Thomson Locations: Frankfurt, Germany

☆ France's Casino is looking to sell more supermarkets, Les Echos reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsPARIS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Heavily indebted French supermarket group Casino (CASP.PA) is preparing to sell more supermarkets to Intermarche, a unit of Groupement Les Mousquetaires, or even put its remaining stores for sale to the highest bidder, daily Les Echos said in its Monday edition. Casino already received expressions of interest for its remaining 291 supermarkets, including 60 franchises, and 52 large-scale hypermarkets, the daily said. It warned last week of likely 2023 losses for its core French business due to a slower-than-expected turnaround at its hypermarkets division. Candidates for a takeover must submit their offer by Wednesday, Les Echos said. Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Claude Chendjou; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Stephane Mahe, Les, Les Echos, France's, Daniel Kretinsky, Sybille de La Hamaide, Claude Chendjou, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: aÊCasinoÊsupermarket, Nantes, France, Czech

The entrance to JPMorgan Chase's international headquarters on Park Avenue is seen in New York October 2, 2012. It is the bank's third-biggest city in the European Union in terms of staff with 900 people, coming after Warsaw (1,200) and Dublin (more than 1,000). In the wake of Britain's exit from the European Union, JPMorgan bought a seven-storey building near its historic headquarters in the first arrondissement to house more employees. JPMorgan will commit $50 million of the $60 million investment and Bpifrance will provide 10 million euros ($10.66 million). The aim is to raise between 150 million euros to 200 million euros by the end of 2024, the U.S. lender said.

Persons: Shannon Stapleton, Bpifrance, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, Mathieu Rosemain, Anousha Sakoui, Louise Heavens Organizations: JPMorgan Chase's, REUTERS, Rights, JPMorgan, U.S, European Union, Gardens, Justice, Ritz Paris Hotel, Spark, JPMorgan Asset Management, Thomson Locations: New York, France, London, Paris, Europe, Warsaw, Dublin, U.S, Vendome, Spark France

[1/2] The branch of Credit Agricole bank is seen in Warsaw, Poland, July 3, 2018. Its net income jumped 33% to 1.75 billion euros ($1.87 billion), above the 1.37 billion expected by analysts in a company-compiled poll. Group revenue rose 19% to 6.34 billion euros, topping the 5.99 billion expected by analysts. It reported lower-than-expected provisions of 429 million euros, helping its bottom line. Credit Agricole controls Europe's largest fund manager Amundi (AMUN.PA) and recently announced plans to acquire Belgian wealth management firm Degroof Petercam.

Persons: Marcin Goclowski, Morgan, Amundi, Degroof, Mathieu Rosemain, Augustin Turpin, Silvia Aloisi, Jason Neely Organizations: Credit Agricole, REUTERS, Credit, Credit Agricole Group, Societe Generale, BNP, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Thomson Locations: Credit, Warsaw, Poland, PARIS, Italy, France

NII at the French retail division fell by 27% in the quarter, excluding two regulated savings accounts, "well below expectations," JP Morgan said in a note to clients. The French lender said it now saw NII of its French retail, private banking and insurance division falling by more than 20% in 2023. The French retail division's earnings also suffered from hedging contracts against the risks of low interest rates. SocGen's shares had edged up 0.6% by 0924 GMT. The bank has also finalised the merger of its two French retail networks.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, JP Morgan, SocGen, Slawomir Krupa, Jefferies, Krupa, ALD, Mathieu Rosemain, Silvia Aloisi, Ingrid Melander, Emelia Organizations: Societe Generale, La Defense, REUTERS, European Central Bank, BNP, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Thomson Locations: La, Paris, France

To this aim UniCredit wants to get to around 20 billion euros of in-house funds, Orcel said. UniCredit and Amundi are tied by a 10-year distribution agreement they signed in 2017, when UniCredit sold its internal asset manager Pioneer to Amundi. Orcel, who has been working to increase the bank's fee income since arriving in 2021, said on Tuesday UniCredit had been "rebalancing" its relationship with Amundi. By replacing the Amundi funds with its own products or those of partners who pay the bank more to sell their funds, UniCredit increases the portion of distribution fees in asset management it pockets. "In terms of value, I think in-house, strictly speaking, we're looking at about 20 billion euros," he said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Andrea Orcel, UniCredit, Orcel, Valérie Baudson, Amundi, Mathieu Rosemain, Valentina Za, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Paris

☆ Atos shares slide, trader points to possible French nationalisation plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The logo of Atos is pictured at the Eurosatory international defence and security exhibition in Villepinte, near Paris, France June 13, 2022. According to the reports, two lawmakers - Olivier Marleix from the conservative Les Republicans and Socialist Philippe Brun - both have lodged amendments to France's 2024 budget law for a partial state takeover of Atos, citing national security concerns. The move had a negative impact on the share's trading value on Monday, one trader told Reuters. Over the last two years, Atos shares had lost almost 80% of their value. Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Michal Aleksandrowicz, writing by Tassilo HummelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Benoit Tessier, Les Echos, Olivier Marleix, Socialist Philippe Brun, Atos, Danilo Masoni, Michal Aleksandrowicz, Tassilo Hummel Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Le Parisien, National Assembly, Les Republicans, Socialist, Atos, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Villepinte, Paris, France

The logo of Atos is pictured at the Eurosatory international defence and security exhibition in Villepinte, near Paris, France June 13, 2022. Mustier, credited with restoring UniCredit's capital strength, will be tasked to revive investors' trust after a governance crisis and a series of setbacks pummelled Atos' shares, now trading at near record lows. Atos shares jumped by more than 20% in early Paris trading but reversed course in the morning. The planned sale of Atos's loss-making legacy IT operations, dubbed Tech Foundations, to Kretinsky is opposed by some minority shareholders and several French politicians. Atos on Monday reiterated the plan to sell Tech Foundations to Kretinsky under the terms announced in August, although it signalled some of the financial terms could change.

Persons: Benoit Tessier, Bertrand Meunier, Kretinsky, Jean, Pierre Mustier, Daniel Kretinksy, Atos, Mustier, pummelled Atos, Kretinsky's, Mathieu Rosemain, Pierre John Felcenloben, Christian Schmollinger, Navaratnam, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Tech Foundations, Tech, Atos, Kretinsky, Thomson Locations: Villepinte, Paris, France, Czech, Kretinsky, Eviden, French, Atos

"We are negatively surprised by lack of revenue growth, increased capital target, payout & ROTE cut, and by the lack of details," Jefferies analysts said in a note. It also said its new targets were based on annual revenue growth expectations between zero and 2% between 2022 and 2026, but that it would aim to improve its cost-to-income ratio. A SocGen veteran and former head of its investment bank, Krupa said he would streamline the bank's activities but didn't elaborate. The share price decline put SocGen on course for the biggest one-day drop since March. "It will take time for the shares to discount the cost improvement given SG's mixed track record," they said.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Krupa, Slawomir Krupa, SocGen, JP Morgan, Tassilo Hummel, Silvia Aloisi, Elisa Martinuzzi, Michal Alexandrowicz, Mathieu Rosemain, Ingrid Melander, Mark Potter Organizations: Societe Generale, La Defense, REUTERS, BNP, Jefferies, Thomson Locations: La, Paris, France, Russia

An advertising board is seen during the first demonstration of the technology 5G in Lisbon, Portugal June 4, 2018. The review by the banks, including Lazard, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, will involve some of Altice's major assets in the region, including SFR, France's second-biggest telecoms group, the person said. Altice, Morgan Stanley and BNP declined to comment, while spokespeople for Lazard and Goldman Sachs weren't immediately available for comment. Drahi told investors in August he felt "shocked" and "betrayed" by the ongoing corruption probe in Portugal, which led to the suspension of fifteen employees in Portugal, France and the United States and dozens of suppliers. Altice is already close to a deal to sell its data centres in France to Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, French newspaper Les Echos reported on Wednesday.

Persons: Rafael Marchante, Altice, Lazard, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, France's, Goldman Sachs weren't, Patrick Drahi, Armando Pereira, Drahi, Les Echos, Mathieu Rosemain, Sharon Singleton Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, BNP, Lazard, Altice, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, Thomson Locations: Lisbon, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Altice France, France, United States

Assets will be sold within Altice France or outside France to repay debt, Drahi told investors on a conference call. "(The aims is) to raise, one way or another, 3 billion (euros) of equity, plus or minus," Drahi said. Altice France's net leverage ratio at end of June was 6.3 times its yearly core operating profits. Altice France's net debt was close to 24 billion euros at the end of June, up from 23.6 billion at end of March, the group said. Total earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to 1.02 billion euros from 1.08 billion euros a year earlier.

Persons: Patrick Drahi, Philippe Wojazer, Drahi, Dennis Okhuijsen, Altice, Portugal Altice's, Armando Pereira, Pereira, Mathieu Rosemain, Ingrid Melander, Silvia Aloisi, Mark Potter Organizations: Altice Group, REUTERS, Altice, Thomson Locations: Franco, Israeli, Paris, France, PARIS, Altice France, Portugal

Fifteen employees have been put on leave in Portugal, France and the United States since news broke about the probe, which is currently limited to Portugal, said Drahi. Pressed by analysts on the call to lay out the role and extent of Pereira's involvement within the Altice group, Drahi said Pereira, whom he hired in 2003, had not held any stake in any Altice entity since 2005. Altice International, the entity that owns telecoms firm PT Portugal, is owned by Drahi's personal holding Next. The other two entities are Altice USA and Altice France, home to France's second biggest telecoms firm SFR. The debt has come under further pressure since Pereira's July detention, with longer-term debt issued by Altice France trading around 80 cents to the euro while those of Altice France Holding trade around 40 cents to the euro.

Persons: Patrick Drahi, Violeta Santos Moura, Drahi, Armando Pereira, Pereira, Altice, Mathieu Rosemain, Yoruk Bahceli, Ingrid Melander, Silvia Aloisi, Conor Humphries Organizations: French, REUTERS, Altice, PT Portugal, Altice International, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Portugal, United States, Altice France

FILE PHOTO-A woman walks past a Credit Agricole logo outside a bank office in Reze near Nantes, France, May 12, 2021. The results boosted Credit Agricole SA's (CAGR.PA) stock, which was up by about 5% at 0817 GMT, making it the best performer within France's blue-chip index CAC 40 (.FCHI). Helping the positive sentiment, the investment vehicle of the mutual banks that control Credit Agricole said it would spend 1 billion euros on the bank's shares, further tightening its grip on the lender. The vehicle currently owns 60.2% of Credit Agricole SA and said it had no intention to go beyond 65%. Degroof Petercam has client assets of 71 billion euros, while Indosuez said it had assets under management of 130 billion euros at the end of 2022.

Persons: Stephane Mahe, Degroof, France's, JP Morgan, Degroof Petercam, Indosuez, Xavier Musca, Musca, Mathieu Rosemain, Geert de Clercq, Piotr Lipinski, Ingrid Melander, Augustin Turpin, Alexander Smith Organizations: REUTERS, Agricole, CAC, PARIS, Credit Agricole, Credit Agricole SA, Royal Bank of Canada, Barclays, Credit Agricole's, Indosuez, KBC, Thomson Locations: Reze, Nantes, France, Belgian

The beat was underpinned by much lower-than-expected "cost of risk" - money set aside for failing loans - of 166 million euros. Analysts had expected 430 million euros. Dubbed a "year of transition" by Krupa's predecessor Frederic Oudea, 2023 is also marked by a severe downturn at SocGen's French retail banking division, fresh from a merger of its two local networks. The second quarter was also affected by negative exceptional items of 240 million euros, which Credit Suisse analysts said were tied to "legacy legal disputes". Retail banking outside France fared better, as did SocGen's car leasing division ALD Automotive (ALDA.PA), whose sales jumped by more than 17% thanks to the acquisition of rival LeasePlan.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Krupa, Slawomir Krupa, France's, Jefferies, Frederic Oudea, Intesa, LeasePlan, SocGen, Mathieu Rosemain, Augustin Turpin, Ingrid Melander, Mark Potter Organizations: Societe Generale, La Defense, REUTERS, Royal Bank of Canada, European Central Bank, Credit Suisse, Retail, ALD Automotive, Thomson Locations: French, Courbevoie, Paris, France, PARIS, Russia

Atos also said on Tuesday that it plans a 900 million-euro share sale to further shore up its balance sheet. The company said 180 million euros of the shares in the capital raise would be reserved for EPEI, giving it a 7.5% stake in Eviden. The sale of the remaining 720 million euros of new shares will be underwritten by BNP Paribas and JP Morgan, the company said. The expected sale would bring in 100 million euros in cash and cut 1.9 billion euros worth of liabilities from the tech company's balance sheet, Atos said. The sale gives an enterprise value of 2 billion euros to the sold division, which generated 4.5 billion euros of core revenue last year and employs 52,000 people.

Persons: Daniel Kretinsky, Atos, JP Morgan, Nathalie Senechault, Paul Saleh, Mathieu Rosemain, Sudip Kar, Edmund Klamann, Sharon Singleton Organizations: PARIS, Casino, Tech Foundations, Equity Investment, BNP, Thomson Locations: Czech, Europe, France, Eviden

The talks, announced with Kretinsky's EP Equity Investment (EPEI) vehicle, come on top of a 900 million-euro share-sale plan, aimed at further shoring up Atos' balance sheet, the company said. The expected sale would bring in 100 million euros in cash and cut 1.9 billion euros worth of liabilities from the tech company's balance sheet, Atos said. It gives an enterprise value of 2 billion euros to the sold division, named Tech Foundations. Tech Foundations, whose activities generated 4.5 billion euros of revenue last year, offers infrastructure management services. Following the sale of the tech unit, Atos will still rename as Eviden.

Persons: Daniel Kretinsky, Atos, Nathalie Senechault, Paul Saleh, Mathieu Rosemain, Sudip Kar, Edmund Klamann, Sharon Singleton Organizations: PARIS, Kretinsky's, Equity Investment, Tech Foundations, Tech, Casino, Thomson Locations: Czech, Paris, French, France

LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - French telecoms firm TDF is studying options for its fibre business including a sale, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a deal that could value the fibre unit upwards of 1 billion euros. The sellers are looking for as much as 1.3 billion to 1.6 billion euros for the fibre unit, according to one of the people, a price that buyers may find difficult to swallow. TDF - a former unit of France's leading telecoms operator Orange - provides broadcasting, fibre and telecoms infrastructure with some of its radio antennas sitting on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The fibre unit's EbitdaAL, which deducts the cost of the leases from EBITDA, reached 28.7 million euros last year up from 21.6 million euros a year earlier, while revenues grew 42.8% to 52 million euros, according to TDF’s latest annual results. Two of the sources said the fibre unit's valuation will depend on the number of homes connected to fibre, market penetration and growth rate.

Persons: Brookfield, Sweden's, Les Echos, Andres Gonzalez, Amy, Jo Crowley, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: TDF, Reuters, Brookfield Asset Management, BNP Paribas, BNP, Brookfield, Orange, Eiffel, Sweden's EQT Partners, PSP Investments, APG, Management, Arcus Infrastructure Partners, Agricole, CAA, Thomson Locations: Paris, Europe, TDF, EBITDA

PARIS, July 28 (Reuters) - Amundi (AMUN.PA), Europe's biggest fund manager, posted better-than-expected quarterly net inflows on Friday as investors' appetite for risk-averse products underpinned a 1.9% yearly growth in assets under management. This beat the analyst consensus compiled by the company, which predicted a decrease of 1.1 billion euros in three-month period ending in June. Baudson also said that the reopening of China's economy started to have a positive effect on net inflows stemming from its joint venture with Bank of China, leading to "very slightly positive" net inflows in the second quarter. Amundi's second-quarter earnings also beat expectations, with adjusted net income totaling 320 million euros, up 19% from a year earlier. ($1 = 0.9098 euros)Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Conor HumphriesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Valerie Baudson, Baudson, Amundi's, Mathieu Rosemain, Conor Humphries Organizations: Europe's, Bank of, Thomson Locations: Bank of China

The French lender's second-quarter net income fell 4.9% on a reported basis to 2.81 billion euros ($3.12 billion), beating the 2.49 billion euro analyst consensus compiled by the company. Group revenue fell 1.5% to 11.4 billion euros, also above expectations, while the cost of risk - money put aside for failing loans - was lower than expected at 689 million euros. BNP's bottom line also suffered from a set of exceptional items that totalled 723 million euros after tax. These included an 125 million euro provision for unspecified litigation. The group's 5 billion euro share buyback programme will proceed as planned, it confirmed, adding that the second tranche of 2.5 billion euros had been approved and will be launched from early August.

Persons: Italy's, Mathieu Rosemain, Christopher Cushing, Jason Neely, David Goodman Organizations: BNP, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of, European Central Bank, Spain's Santander, Thomson Locations: PARIS, Bank, France

☆ France to raise regulated household electricity prices by 10% from August
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, July 18 (Reuters) - The French government has decided to raise regulated household electricity prices by 10% starting from August, a government official said on Tuesday, confirming a report from newspaper Les Echos. The 10% increase is much lower than the one proposed by the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), which - based on current market prices - recommended an increase of 74.5%. In May, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said France's cap on electricity prices would be phased out and end at the end of next year. European electricity prices soared last year, mainly driven by the fallout from the war in Ukraine. France also saw record-low nuclear output as state-owned utility EDF (EDF.PA) repairs reactors affected by stress corrosion.

Persons: Les, ”, Bruno Le Maire, France's, Benjamin Mallet, Tassilo Hummel, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Jason Neely Organizations: French Energy Regulatory Commission, Finance, EDF, Thomson Locations: Europe, Ukraine, France

It leaves Kretinsky, who submitted a revised offer over the weekend proposing the equity injection, as the only bidder. The cash injection plan would lead to a 4.7 billion-euro reduction in overall debt, Casino said. Casino is saddled with net debt of 6.4 billion euros and is teetering on the brink of default. The board meeting followed a separate meeting between Casino's creditors and CIRI - France's finance ministry body that helps distressed companies and their creditors draw up restructuring plans. Kretinsky and Ladreit de Lacharriere would control the investment vehicle behind the 1.2 billion-euro equity injection, a source said.

Persons: Daniel Kretinsky, Kretinsky's, Xavier Niel, Jean, Charles Naouri, Kretinsky, Niel, Matthieu Pigasse, Moez, Alexandre Zouari, Casino, Marc Ladreit de, Ladreit, Mathieu Rosemain, Mike Harrison, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Casino, 3F, Attestor, French, Monde, Fnac, Metro, Forbes, Thomson Locations: Czech, PARIS, French, Paris, Casino, Britain, France, Germany

☆ France to cut government spending by 4.2 bln eur next year - minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, July 17 (Reuters) - The French government expects to spend 4.2 billion euros ($4.71 billion) less in 2024 as it scales back massive consumer subsidies on fuel and electricity, according to first budget estimates sent to parliamentarians. "For the first time in almost a decade, spending will decrease when compared to the previous year: 4.2 billion euros down", Budget Minister Gabriel Attal told paper Les Echos on Sunday. "We are ending the exceptional crisis spending and are making savings, to finance the green transition," Attal said. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has asked each ministry to identify cutbacks worth 5% of their budget. A finance ministry source said on Sunday that France's debt reduction would be achieved through various means, including savings in employment and housing policies.

Persons: Gabriel Attal, Emmanuel Macron's, Attal, Fitch, Bruno Le Maire, Tassilo Hummel, Bertrand Boucey, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Finance, Thomson Locations: France

REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File PhotoSummaryCompanies Talks involve potential prepayment accord with carmakersMiner in talks with state-owned companies in Chile over lithiumAIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, July 9 (Reuters) - French mining group Eramet (ERMT.PA) is in talks with several European carmakers over commercial agreements that would help the company finance its lithium production project in Argentina, Chief Executive Officer Christel Bories said. "We're positioning ourselves (in Chile), we have discussions with state-owned companies," Bories said, with the aim to gain potential lithium concessions "in the coming months." Demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has increased as climate-conscious consumers snap up cars with electric powertrains, amid soaring fuel prices. Bories confirmed commodities group Glencore (GLEN.L) was among parties to have expressed interest in helping finance Eramet's lithium production in Argentina. She declined to elaborate further or give the names of the European carmakers involved in the talks.

Persons: Benoit Tessier, carmakers Miner, Christel Bories, Bories, We're, Mathieu Rosemain, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: REUTERS, carmakers, Manufacturers, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Chile, PROVENCE, Argentina, United States, China, Aix, Provence, South America

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