It’s becoming harder and harder to find any Sema Group Plc shares to trade and the number freely held has fallen to 13% following Cap-Gemini-Sogeti SA finding enough to add another 1% or so and take its stake to 26%: the biggest French shareholders, Banque Paribas, which alone has a decisive 39%, Credit Agricole, 4.7% and Schneider SA 7.7% insist that they are long-term holders friendly to present management – and CIN, the front for the Coal Board Pension Fund, has said the same, but it can’t be trusted after its treacherous treatment of Globe Investment Trust Plc; CIN has 6.8%, which seems to suggest that if all the French holders stand fast, control of the firm is still just out of reach of Cap Gemini.
