France’s Sovereign Fund to Invest $1.3 Billion by End of Year
31. Jul, 2009
Bloomberg reports that, “France’s sovereign wealth fund may spend 900 million euros ($1.3 billion) before the end of the year and increase aid to the auto industry in 2010, as the recession batters companies’ finances. The 20 billion-euro investment pool, set up last year by President Nicolas Sarkozy, may provide capital to suppliers of Airbus SAS and Safran SA and open a fund for smaller companies, said Gilles Michel, managing director of the fund.
‘The effect of the crisis on companies is worsening,’ Michel said in an interview in Paris late yesterday. ‘Many companies are facing financial pressure.’
The fund, created last year to protect companies the government considered strategic from “foreign predators,” has spent almost 600 million euros so far this year, meaning total investment may reach 1.5 billion euros in 2009. French gross domestic product may shrink 3 percent this year, the most since 1949, the national statistics agency estimates.”
read more: Bloomberg
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