SGE

Created in 1899

Picture with legend
Testing the floodgates of the Bin-el-Ouidane dam in Morocco

Foundation of SGE
In 1899, Alexandre Giros et Louis Loucheur, engineers and graduates of Ecole Polytechnique, founded a civil engineering company, which soon became SGE (Société Générale D'Entreprise). Thanks to buoyant markets in electricity and railway construction, the company was an immediate success. By 1910, SGE was the second-largest company in the sector. During the first world war, the group focused on national defence projects. After the war, despite a sometimes difficult environment, it continued to grow, participating in major projects such as the Truyère and Drac sites. The company was hard hit by World War II and forced to abandon its positions in the colonies. In 1946, SGE was confronted with the French government's decision to nationalise electrical power.

A leader in civil engineering
Under the management of Jean Matheron and Paul Huvelin, Alexandre Giros's sons-in-law, SGE redeployed massively into civil engineering. In projects such as the Génissiat and Bin-el-Ouidane dams and the Rance tidal power plant, SGE demonstrated significant technical expertise, and established itself as the unrivalled leader in the profession. SGE was taken over by Compagnie Générale d’Electricité (now Alcatel). In 1966, it took part in the creation of Cofiroute. In 1982, it merged with Sainrapt et Brice. From 1984 to 1988, the company was part of Saint-Gobain before it was taken over by Compagnie Générale des Eaux (now Vivendi). When SGE merged with Campenon Bernard, also a holding company, it kept its name and legal identity. All of these transactions radically changed SGE's profile, turning it into a holding company with many subsidiaries.

From SGE to VINCI
In the early 1990s, SGE launched several takeovers to reinforce its position in Europe. In 1997, it exchanged household waste treatment and water distribution activities for CGE's (Vivendi) electrical engineering business (GTIE). SGE was thus able to reorganise around four divisions: Construction, Energy and Information, Roads and Concessions. The year 2000 saw several major changes: following Vivendi's withdrawal, SGE became an independent company and changed its name to VINCI. In the second half of 2000, VINCI's successful bid for GTM made it the world leader in the sector, ahead of Skanska of Sweden and Bouygues of France.