France loses a great captain of industry

2023-11-01 21:30:00

France loses one of its former captains of industry. Francis Mer died this Tuesday at the age of 84, former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Pierre Bourrier, former communications director of the Usinor group, told AFP this Wednesday. Francis Mer notably headed Saint-Gobain, which he joined at the very beginning of the 1970s, Usinor-Sacilor (now ArcelorMittal) and Safran. He had also been Minister of the Economy from May 2002 to March 2004 in the Raffarin government.

“There are industrialists who leave their mark on their country, at Saint-Gobain as at the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry, Francis Mer has served France with rigor and passion,” reacted on X (formerly Twitter) the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.

His funeral is planned for November 8 in Bourg-la-Reine, in Hauts-de-Seine, Jean-Raffarin told AFP. The latter paid tribute on He loved France.”

“He was a very demanding boss but a real boss, whom I esteemed a lot, (…) who knew what had to be done and knew how to train people,” Pierre Bourrier, former communications director of the Usinor group.

Outspoken

A mining engineer who also attended the Ecole Polytechnique, Francis Mer was known for his outspokenness,

Father of three daughters, Francis Mer was born on May 25, 1939 in Pau. The son of an engineer, he himself began his career as a mining engineer at the Ministry of Industry in 1966, according to his biography published on the government website. He spent a few years in administration (1966-1970), before joining the Saint-Gobain industrial group. He quickly became the general director of Saint-Gobain Industries, before continuing his career in the steel industry. In 1986, the government chose him to provide a single direction to the two enemy poles of the French steel industry, Usinor and Sacilor. He brought them together into a single entity, Usinor-Sacilor, improved their performance and privatized the group in 1995, which became Arcelor in 2002 (subsequently bought by Mittal).

Manager of several companies, he has also held directorships, notably at Rhodia, Alstom and the Canadian nickel giant Inco.

In 2007, he became chairman of the supervisory board of the Safran group, appointed to restore order following a “war of bosses” then vice-chairman of the board of directors from 2011 to 2013. He also chaired the Foundation for political innovation, close to the UMP.

(with AFP)