More or less everybody was expecting the news, but it still struck the industry quite hard last Friday when the French government announced that it had sold 33.34 per cent of its shares in the portfolio of Rungis market authority Semmaris.
The company that has purchased the shares is Altarea, a real estate company, well known in France for having constructed the very posh commercial market of Bercy Village, in the east of Paris.
The announcement provoked some fierce reactions from different quarters. Firstly, the district council of Val de Marne (where Rungis market is located) and also a stakeholder in Semmaris, condemned the move: “We fear this might lead to a total privatisation of the market in time,” said a spokesman. “We see this purely as an opportunity for Altarea to make a profit.”
Rungis tenants’ association Unigros was even angrier at the announcement, expressing its disapproval in a press release claiming that the tenants’ positions had not been taken into consideration. They also consider their rights as minor stakeholders have been somehow spoiled.
But Semmaris president Marc Spielrein answered the critics of the scheme during a press conference this week: “According to the specific law ruling a public-private company such as Semmaris, it was not possible to go to council. I totally understand the tenants’ frustration, but I would like to point out that they accepted the reality of the state buy-out in August 2006, under certain conditions, specifically that the majority of the shares were kept by the state and local authorities, and that the new stakeholder was not a speculator. These two existing conditions have, in this case, clearly been fulfilled.”
Spielrein said he sees this as the gathering of two different areas of expertise: management of wholesale markets (Semmaris) and real estate development (Altarea).
This is a historical change for Rungis, and there are some specific objectives for the market. “We definitely need to expand our overseas clientele, and we have to establish relations in the UK, China and Moscow, to name but a few,” said Spielrein. He also acknowledged that being French was not always an attribute when it comes down to forging international relations.
The operation gives Semmaris the financial opportunity to acquire some 20 hectares in the neighbouring area of Senia, land which belongs to the private sector. Any future extension of the market will house logistics and wholesale warehouses.
Evolution in the other wholesale markets in France may interest this brand-new Semmaris.
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