Marc Lassus & the December 2002 Gemplus Board Meeting
>> Lassus Resigns from Gemplus, Employees Demonstrate Over Job Cuts
Stephanie Gordon
EE Times
20 December 2002
In a tough week for French smartcard maker Gemplus, two board members resigned following an Extraordinary General Meeting which saw tensions build between European and American shareholders.
Gemplus founder and former chairman Marc Lassus and board member Ziad Takieddine resigned during the meeting on Thursday saving them from a possible ousting by the company which had earlier sought to remove the two from the board in the belief that they had not acted in the best interests of the company.
U.S buyout firm Texas Pacific Group is the largest shareholder in Gemplus with about 26 percent of the stock. Reports have speculated that European shareholders united against the U.S investment firm, but its co-founder David Bonderman played down rumours of a "Franco-American war".
"There is no alliance between shareholders," he told French daily Le Figaro. "The only motivation I am aware of on the part of the principle shareholders is to help Gemplus return to profit."
The comments differed from those of Thierry Dassault, whose family controls 4.5 percent of Gemplus. He told the French National newspaper that “the goal is get everyone around the table so that Texas Pacific Group accepts new rules of operation at Gemplus and so that the company can be put back on track.”
Aside from Texas Pacific and the Dassault family, major shareholders of Gemplus include French telecom and defence electronics firm Sagem with 10 percent, and Germany's Quandt family with 17 percent.
Over 300 employees demonstrated in Marseille on Thursday to protest against restructuring plans that include 1,000 job cuts. The employees were protesting over the 483 cuts that are planned at two of the company's sites in southern France.
Gemplus, which posted a net loss of nearly $39 million in the third quarter, has predicted that the restructuring will save $100 million this year, and double that by 2004. <<
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