The French government will now require its approval before non-European investors can acquire more than 10% of shares in French companies operating in sensitive sectors and listed on stock exchanges outside the European Union, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced.
Writing on social media Sunday, Lecornu said that amid heightened geopolitical tensions, France is strengthening oversight of foreign investment in sensitive industries, framing the move as a dual responsibility to support the growth of French businesses while protecting the country’s strategic interests.
The new threshold will apply to sectors designated by the government as strategically sensitive, including defense, critical infrastructure and key technologies.
Earlier this year, Lecornu tasked three lawmakers from his center-right coalition with producing a report on France’s economic security. The resulting document, obtained by Politico, called for a radical shift in France’s approach and urged the government to adopt a comprehensive strategy for protecting strategic assets, securing critical supply chains, reducing dependencies on foreign sources, and strengthening technological sovereignty.
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In a statement announcing the change, Lecornu’s office said the government would respond to any notified foreign investment within 10 days, a timeline intended to avoid placing undue strain on companies’ ability to raise capital in financial markets. The measure is designed to guard against opportunistic acquisitions by non-EU investors in French companies listed outside the bloc that could pose risks to national security, according to the statement.
France had previously established a similar screening process during the Covid-19 pandemic for planned acquisitions exceeding 10% of shares in French companies listed on European markets, framed at the time as a way to protect strategic companies during a period of crisis. That measure was later made permanent, and the government is now extending it to cover French companies listed outside the EU as well.
The new rules are set to take effect in the coming days. Other EU member states, including Germany and Spain, maintain comparable foreign investment screening regimes that apply a similar 10% threshold to acquisitions in designated strategic sectors.
