THE French secret service is reported to have drawn up a confidential list of French companies that could be vulnerable to hostile bids by foreign investors.

The list was handed to Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, last year, according to La Tribune, the French financial newspaper, which said that the list included Vivendi, the communications company, Société Générale, the bank, and Carrefour, the supermarket group.

M de Villepin is believed to have ordered French intelligence agencies to provide him with information to sustain his campaign for “economic patriotism”, which has been criticised as covert protectionism. He is seeking to defend France’s biggest and most emblematic companies against foreign takeover.

M de Villepin’s most recent moves have been to promote legislation enabling directors to use a “poison pill” defence against hostile takeover and to encourage the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, the state-run financial institution, to increase its stake in French companies.

According to La Tribune, the secret service list was designed to help the Government to identify groups that may need defending in the name of patriotism. Other companies on the list are reported to include Danone, the food group. Saint-Gobain, the glassmaker, Thomson, the data company, Casino, the supermarket chain, Suez, the energy group, and Arcelor, the steelmaker — even though the latter has its headquarters in Luxembourg.

The newspaper said that a dozen smaller firms were also included, although they were not named.

Since the list was established, Arcelor and Suez have been the target of bids respectively by Mittal Steel, the global company, and Enel, of Italy. In both cases the French Government’s reaction was hostile.

M de Villepin is trying to block Enel’s move through a merger between Suez and Gaz de France, the state utility.

Yesterday, Bernard Carayon, an MP close to M de Villepin, said that the list had been put together by the French Finance Ministry and featured companies “which are undervalued and whose capital is diluted”.

Alain Juillet, the former French spy chief appointed as head of the Government’s Economic Intelligence unit, denied any knowledge of the list. However, he said that his unit was in the process of identifying small and medium-sized firms in “sensitive sectors” which needed “surveillance to prevent them from being destabilised”.