SFTRF: The Fréjus tunnel French motorway company (Société Française du Tunnel Routier du Fréjus) is a semi-public company (Société Anonyme d’économie mixte locale), whose main shareholder is the French State.
The French State did not hold shares in the company when it was founded in 1962, however in 1992 the State acquired 49 % through the French motorway holding “Autoroutes De France (ADF)”. Then in 1998 the financial situation of the company resulting from funding construction of the motorway made recapitalisation essential, and the State took an 84 % controlling interest.
Two further recapitalisations were carried out in 2004 and 2002, these were entirely taken up by the State through the French Government Shareholding Agency APE (Agence des Participations de l’état), the shares owned by ADF having been transferred to APE on January 1st, 2009, after ADF was wound-up. The whole amount of the last recapitalisation i.e. 447 M €, was dedicated to reducing SFTRF’s debt. Following this recapitalisation, the State holds 99,94% of the capital of SFTRF.
During the 2012 financial exercise, APE transferred its shares in SFTRF to an administrative structure, FDPITMA: Fund for Development of Intermodal Transport Policy in the Alpine range (Fonds pour le Développement d’une Politique Intermodale des Transports dans le Massif Alpin). This made it possible to set up a sustainable procedure for funding the company, by ploughing back dividends paid to the State as shareholder by ATMB (Mont Blanc highway and tunnel), as balancing subsidies to SFTRF.
SFTRF Capital distribution :
| Figures (year 2017) | Motorway (A43) | Fréjus tunnel |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Average Traffic (cars) | 6 839 | 2 777 |
| Daily Average Traffic (lorries & busses) | 2 302 | 2 098 |
| Total Daily Average Traffic | 9 141 | 4 875 |