PARIS: France will nationalise the STX France shipyard to prevent an Italian firm taking majority control, the economy minister said on Thursday, triggering an angry response from Rome to President Emmanuel Macron’s first big industrial policy decision.

As France’s most avowedly pro-business leader in decades, few would have predicted the former investment banker’s first big move in the corporate sector would be a nationalisation, even if the government says it will only be temporary.

The Italian state-owned shipbuilder Fincantieri had reached an agreement in May to pay 79.5 million euros ($93.20m) for two-thirds of STX France, which is being sold because of the collapse of its South Korean parent, STX.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2017