It has had a chequered history since its parent, Leyland DAF, went bankrupt in 1993, passing through two private-equity firms before landing with GAZ, a Russian automotive group.
To avert a hostile bid from the Italian firm, the French government announced that it would seek to broker a merger between Suez and state-owned Gaz de France, creating a group with annual sales of €64 billion ($76 billion).Italian politicians were outraged.
It is registered at a central London address that appears to be little more than a postbox for companies, many of them music-related – Ed Sheeran Limited, Radiohead Trademark Limited (and several other companies associated with the group), Supergrass Limited, Gaz Coombes Limited and Hudmo Ltd are among the 213 active companies endole.co.uk lists as being registered at the address.
Eight bidders have expressed interest, including two Indian conglomerates, Reliance and Tatas, and three big Western energy groups, Royal Dutch/Shell, TotalFinaElf, and Gaz de France.
Rather than jam interminably, the group split into pairs to hone their writing, Gaz explains.
THE 18-month impasse over the merger between state-owned Gaz de France (GDF) and Suez, a Franco-Belgian utilities group, came to an end on September 3rd after three phone calls between the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and leading Suez shareholders.
The president was called upon this week to smooth the path of the long-stalled merger between state-owned Gaz de France (GDF) and Suez, a private Franco-Belgian energy and environment group.
At the same time Gaz de France (GDF) revealed just how long and drawn-out its frustrated plan to merge with Suez, a French utility group, has become.The MAN deal failed because its approach was seen as hostile by Scania's two biggest shareholders, Volkswagen (now in effect controlled by the Porsche and Piëch families) and Investor, the investment company owned by the Swedish Wallenberg family.
