France could nationalise big companies if necessary - finance minister

The French government is prepared to use all means to support big companies suffering in financial market turmoil, including nationalisation if necessary, the finance minister said on Tuesday.

"I won't hesitate to use all means available to protect big French companies," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on a conference call with journalists.

"That can be done by recapitalisation, that can be done by taking a stake, I can even use the term nationalisation if necessary," Le Maire added.