Orange-Bouygues Telecom’s below a missed appointment – The World

Le Monde | 02/04/2016 at 10:36 • Updated 04/02/2016 at 10:52 | By Sandrine Cassini

once again, the merger will not take place. Three months after the start of negotiations launched on January 5, Orange and Bouygues ended the discussions foresaw the acquisition by the incumbent operator Bouygues Telecom, a subsidiary of the construction giant. Both groups formalized their decision at the end of their two boards, Friday, April 1. Earlier in the day, Stéphane Richard, the owner of Orange, had met one last time Martin Bouygues. But after several days, the situation was tense, the accumulated problems and had become unbreathable air between Mr. Bouygues and economy minister, Emmanuel Macron.

Martin Bouygues, who built the third french operator to divest its subsidiary requested a long journey. In 2014, Orange was already a candidate for his redemption. Without success. In June 2015, Mr. Bouygues refused a check for 10 billion euros from Patrick Drahi. But this time, the Patriarch was seller and as motivated as its competitors to “consolidate the market.”

It was the complexity of this extraordinary marriage. He did not count two, but four operators. To get along with Bouygues, Orange was upstream surrender much of Bouygues Telecom’s assets to its two competitors SFR and Free (whose founder Xavier Niel is a shareholder of the World for an individual). In order to obtain the approval of the Competition Authority, guardian of the interests of consumers.

The meeting between Martin Bouygues and Emmanuel Macron the …