Francis Mer

Summary

Francis Mer (25 May 1939 – 1 November 2023) was a French businessman, industrialist and politician. An alumnus of the École polytechnique (class of 1959), and of the École des Mines de Paris, he was a member of the Corps des mines. Mer was hired in 1970 by the Saint-Gobain group. In 1982, he became chairman of the board of Pont-à-Mousson SA. In the 1980s, he joined the Saint-Simon Foundation think-tank.

Francis Mer
Mer in 2009
Minister of the Economy of France
In office
7 May 2002 – 30 March 2004
PresidentJacques Chirac
Prime MinisterJean-Pierre Raffarin
Preceded byLaurent Fabius
Succeeded byNicolas Sarkozy
Personal details
Born
Francis Paul Mer

(1939-05-25)25 May 1939
Pau, France
Died1 November 2023(2023-11-01) (aged 84)
Bourg-la-Reine, France
Alma materÉcole polytechnique
Mines ParisTech

Following the 1986 legislative elections and the nomination of the conservative Jacques Chirac as Prime Minister, he was nominated as president of the new Usinor group. He was reelected to his position in 1995, upon the group's privatization, and renamed the group Arcelor in 2002. From 2002 to 2004, he was Minister of Finances in Jean-Pierre Raffarin's conservative government.

From 2005, he sat on the board of directors of Vale Inco, which benefited from an important tax rebate to exploit a nickel mine in New Caledonia while he was finance minister.[1][2]

In June 2009, he became chairman of the board of Safran.

In April 2011, due to the change of structure of Safran, Jean-Paul Herteman became CEO and Francis Mer became Vice Chairman.[3][4]

Francis Mer died on 1 November 2023, at the age of 84.[5]

Notes edit

  1. ^ Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders
  2. ^ "La défiscalisation des usines de traitement du nickel en Nouvelle-Calédonie". 3 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Safran-group.com, avril 2011, Le Conseil d'administration de la société est composé de 15 membres parmi lesquels quatre représentants de l'État* et deux représentants des salariés actionnaires". Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  4. ^ Les Echos.fr, 21/4/2011, Francis Mer et le "sexe dit faible", Francis Mer, dont les actionnaires ont voté le renouvellement de mandat d'administrateur pour deux ans, devrait être nommé vice-président du groupe en vertu de la nouvelle gouvernance qu'un conseil d'administration doit avaliser dans l'après-midi
  5. ^ Sadler, David (1 November 2023). "Francis Mer, Former Minister Of The Economy Under Jacques Chirac, Is Dead". Globe Echo. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry
2002–2004
Succeeded by