Brussels, 17/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has opened an in-depth inquiry into new restructuring aid which France is preparing to grant to the Bull group. Bull, which already received aid under this heading in 1995, will not be allowed to receive the new aid until 2005, or ten years after the first, under European rules. The sum of this payment will be 517 million EUR. In exchange, France is imposing a "better fortunes" clause, in the form of a payment by Bull to the State of 23.5% of its annual consolidated result before tax during a period of 8 years starting in 2005. According to the French authorities, this clause represents a present value of between 50 and 60 million EUR. Furthermore, Bull will firstly have to pay back the rescue aid it received in 2001 and 2002, and which should have been repaid last year.
It is worth noting that France was brought before the Court of Justice on 26 November 2003 for dereliction in its duty to recover the debt. The notified aid comes under the new restructuring plan for Bull, which provides for a major reduction in overheads, a reduction in staff to 7,800 by the end of 2003 and re-focussing on the company's strengths. The inquiry will allow the Commission to see whether the aid fulfils the obligatory criteria of authorisation, i.e. whether the plans guarantees a return to a sustainable viability for Bull, whether the aid leads to competition distortion, and whether it is limited to the strictly necessary without providing the company with excess cash. France has committed not to pay the aid until the obligatory earliest date of 31 December 2004.