After almost a year of difficult negotiations, the French and Italian governments have reached agreement to recapitalise SGS-Thomson Microelectronics NV with a total of just over $2,000m over the next five years: the sum includes $925m for research and development, and will be shared equally by France and Italy; on the French side, the money will come from Thomson-CSF SA, CEA Industrie and France Telecom, the latter two each putting up a little over $250m, while Thomson-CSF will pay $450m; in Italy, Enea, the Italian atomic energy agency, will be the main source of funds; further investors in SGS-Thomson are sought, not excluding US and Japanese companies if they can bring something big to the party.
