France: Compagnie des Alpes Searching for International Partnerships

The French company Compagnie des Alpes (CdA) announced on June 6th, 2016, that they are still searching for possible partnerships to reinforce the company’s international growth strategy. In particular it focuses on markets with a high growth potential like China. Within this context, Caisse de Dépôt, one of the company’s major shareholders holding 39.54 percent of the capital, has reiterated its support for the CdA’s strategy and its intention of maintaining its position as shareholder of reference. Furthermore, CdA is in discussions with different investors and industrialists. However, no decisions have been made to date. The company’s strategy rests on three main pillars, which is the regeneration of volume growth in ski areas, to increase the appeal and the capacity of its historical parks and the development of partnerships abroad to achieve critical mass and gain access to the major markets. According to a current press report in the French newspaper Le Monde dated June 5th this year, conversations with the Chinese Fosun company are advanced to take a ten or 15 percent stake in Compagnie des Alpes. “We are in contact with several groups, not just Chinese. In depth discussions are ongoing and I would like them to go faster,” commented Dominique Marcel, Chief Executive Officer of Compagnie des Alpes, to Le Monde. (eap)