Calls for Ministers to step in over £10bn swoop on Aveva

The French executive behind the £10bn foreign takeover of UK tech giant Aveva has close ties to China’s political elite, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The British government approved Schneider Electric’s bid despite deep ties between its chief executive, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, and the communist regime in Beijing, just as unrest grows over creeping Chinese control over key British industries.

Tricoire is the all-powerful chairman and CEO of Schneider Electric, who has led the conglomerate unchallenged for nearly two decades.

Last week, Tricoire got its latest win when Schneider’s £10bn acquisition of Aveva was green-lit. Aveva provides software to help engineers design major industrial projects and products to help factories run – green-lighted under the National Security and Investment Act.

The decision to go through with the deal puts the FTSE100 company and its UK customers’ data in the hands of Schneider – and firmly on the radar of Chinese officials in Beijing.

Tricoire is little known in the UK, but he is a well-known figure in France. A committed Sinophile, he took over as CEO of Schneider in 2006.

Founded in 1836, the company was considered a sleepy French behemoth, focused primarily on selling electrical products. But under Tricoire, Schneider has turned itself into a China-focused digital systems powerhouse, with the company’s Asia-Pacific division accounting for more than a quarter of sales.

His love affair with China started early. As a young director of Schneider in the 1990s, he moved there shortly after completing an MBA in Lyon.

“The first time I went to Shanghai, I got two flat tires,” he recalls describing his experience driving around China’s largest city. But the incident didn’t deter him and during this time there he learned Mandarin and mastered what he calls ‘street Chinese’.

Tricoire, 59, became CEO of the group at the age of 43. Fed up with Schneider’s slow progress in Europe, he made the radical decision in 2011 to move from Paris to Hong Kong and move a leadership team of about 40 people to Asia.

The company’s chief executive – steeped in staid, corporate France – needed some persuasion. But he became the first CEO of a major Paris-listed company to leave the country.

Tricoire was convinced there was a huge growth opportunity and accused Schneider’s executives of being too Eurocentric. He later said of those who did not support him, “When you’re somewhere, you see the world according to the news and what’s happening there, so you’re a little narrow-minded about what’s around you. ‘

No doubt the decision paid off. China’s growth exploded and Schneider’s electrical and engineering services became highly sought after. So much so that Schneider had 26,000 Chinese employees in 2018. That compared to the 17,000 French employees – only 12 percent of the workforce.

At the same time, Tricoire has delved into China and developed close ties with its business and cultural elites. He has never condemned the country’s human rights violations nor challenged China’s draconian zero-Covid strategy. He is even known in business circles as Zhao Guohua, a loose translation of his French name. The ferocious networker is regularly spotted with the Chinese elite.

In March 2019, President Xi Jinping and French leader Emmanuel Macron applauded as Tricoire shook hands with Bank of China Chairman Chen Siqing in a wave of similarities at a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

A year earlier, Schneider’s boss co-chaired a meeting of business leaders in Beijing with Xi. Tricoire could have used the event to speak out in favor of open markets, but chose to stick with China. According to the Financial Times, the Chinese president has even tried to enlist Schneider’s support against the Trump administration’s increasing protectionism.

But Tricoire told the paper: “I don’t consider myself a political figure at all. I understand that people sometimes feel the need to slow down or adapt and we, as a company, adapt to those equations.”

His other formal positions include leading the French/Chinese Association, serving on Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s Global CEO Council and serving on the Advisory Board of the Mayors of Beijing and Shanghai.

Despite his protestations that he is apolitical, Tricoire credits his leadership hero as Deng Xiaoping, a former Chinese leader who oversaw the brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tricoire recently said: ‘A lot of people are inspiring. Focusing on the countries where I have lived, one of the political leaders who impressed me is Deng Xiaoping.

He brought about profound changes in the country. He was innovative in his approach. He was ostracized by the mainstream. He forgave those who mistreated him and involved all camps in reconciliation.”

The revelations will make many Aveva investors and politicians in the UK uneasy.

Megan Prangley, of the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said: “Jean-Pascal Tricoire’s ties to Chinese Communist Party officials, including senior Premier Li Keqiang, should not be overlooked. The British government should have taken more account of Tricoire’s personal connections and track record.’

It wasn’t until September that Schneider announced its intention to buy the 41 percent of Aveva it didn’t already own. But now that revelations have emerged about Tricoire and its close ties to the Beijing regime, MPs have called for a reconsideration of the deal.

Former leader of the Tory party, Iain Duncan Smith, did not mince words. He said, “This is a matter of national security. I don’t trust the CEO or the newly merged company. Schneider is checking people’s data in the UK and China could get their hands on the information. This must be enabled.’

A spokesman for Schneider said the company has “developed its business strongly” in Asia, including China, India and East Asia, over the past 20 years. It added: ‘As a global company close to its customers, our leaders are located close to our key markets around the world. Like most large companies, we participate in many industry associations and other bodies that bring private companies and governments together in all of our key markets.”

Admired and reviled — the ruthless reformer

Influential: Deng Xiaoping led reforms

Jean-Pascal Tricoire is a great admirer of Deng Xiaoping – a controversial figure who became China’s supreme leader after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976.

Deng is credited with introducing a series of sweeping economic reforms that opened up the country to the rest of the world. Collective farms were abandoned, private enterprise was tolerated and foreign investment was encouraged.

Hundreds of millions of people were lifted out of poverty as the communist state became one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

But Deng is also notorious for overseeing the brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. Critics say the crackdown suggested, despite more open economic policies, leaders would do whatever it takes was to keep the Communist Party in power by force. If necessary.

In November 1989, Deng officially stepped down as leader and was replaced by Jiang Zemin, who died the previous month at the age of 96. However, Deng continued to exert influence.

Deng died at the age of 92 in 1997, the year Britain returned control of Hong Kong to China.