As part of the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris, this Wednesday, June 17, they formalized the creation of the “Atlantic-Mediterranean defense and sovereignty fund”, the first regional investment fund entirely dedicated to this sector. Its objective: to raise between 100 and 150 million euros to support SMEs and ETIs in their respective territories in their rise to industrial power, their consolidation and their technological development.
Around Alain Rousset, president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, Carole Delga and Loïg Chesnais-Girard, his counterparts from the Occitanie and Brittany Regions, this Thursday at Eurosatory. P. R. / SO
Three regions, an exceptional “defense” industrial breeding ground
These three regions bring together more than 1,300 companies under the BITD. New Aquitaine is the country’s leading aeronautical defense region, with 550 companies and 40,000 jobs linked to combat aviation, missiles and on-board materials, around clients such as Dassault Aviation, Safran and Thales. Occitanie, Europe’s leading aeronautical region, has 430 BITD companies and 25,000 jobs with Airbus Defense and Space, Thales Alenia Space and Safran. Brittany has established itself as the strategic hub of French naval and cyber capabilities: 388 companies, 64,000 jobs, and leaders like Naval Group and Thales.
In a buoyant market, this fund could constitute good financial leverage for subcontractors of major players in the defense sector (like here Dassault in Mérignac) who must keep up with the increase in pace demanded by their customers. archives Guillaume Bonnaud / SO
The fund will support the industrial ramp-up of SMEs and ETIs supplying major defense programs, by strengthening their equity and financing their productive modernization. “Our French companies, in particular our SMEs, which constitute the heart of our economic fabric, lack equity capital. This interregional fund will, in particular, make it possible to respond to this major challenge,” said Alain Rousset, president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, when launching this fund. alongside Carole Delga and Loïg Chesnais-Girard, her counterparts from the Occitanie and Brittany Regions.
Géants industriels « embarqués » à la gouvernance, M Capital au pilotage
The fund will also seek to promote the transfer of strategic companies and will ensure the capital of key companies is secured against the risk of foreign takeovers. The third pillar targets the critical technologies of tomorrow – artificial intelligence, cyberdefense, hypersonics – while also targeting civil companies whose know-how presents dual potential.
