inception pargesa holding
Pargesa Holding S . A . of Geneva , Switzerland ( Pargesa stands for Paribas - Genève S . A . ) holds significant positions in two large companies based in Europe . In accordance with a 1990 agreement , Power Corporation of Canada and the Frère - Bourgeois / CNP Groups jointly control the company through the Dutch holding company Parjointco NV . The current form of Pargesa stems from the events surrounding the nationalisation in 1982 of the Compagnie Financière de Paris et des Pays - Bas ( Paribas ) under the socialist government of Pierre Mauroy . Pargesa Holding S . A . has a stake in Imérys and controls Groupe Bruxelles Lambert website , a holding company that has major share positions in : Total S . A . ( energy - France ' s largest corporation and the world ' s fourth - ranked oil and gas company ) website Suez S . A . ( energy , water and environmental waste services ) website Imerys S . A . ( specialty minerals mining and processing ) website Lafarge Group ( cement and building materials ) website Asia is Earth ' s largest and most populous continent , located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres and sharing the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe . Asia covers an area of , about ___MASK42___ % of Earth ' s total land area and ___MASK76___ . ___MASK30___ % of the Earth ' s total surface area . The continent , which has long been home to the majority of the human population , was the site of many of the first civilizations . Asia is notable for not only its overall large size and population , but also dense and large settlements as well as vast barely populated regions within the continent of ___MASK48___ . ___MASK48___ billion people . The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe , stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries : Austria , France , Germany , Italy , Liechtenstein , Monaco , Slovenia , and Switzerland . The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided . Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn . Mont Blanc spans the French  Italian border , and at is the highest mountain in the Alps . The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres ( just over ___MASK9___ , 000 feet ). Romandy is the French - speaking part of western Switzerland . In ___MASK10___ about ___MASK19___ . ___MASK70___ million people , or ___MASK36___ . ___MASK48___ % of the Swiss population , lived in Romandy . The bulk of ' population lives in the ' region along Lake Geneva , connecting Geneva , Vaud and the Lower Valais . Switzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic in Europe . It consists of 26 cantons , and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities . The country is situated in Western - Central Europe , and is bordered by Italy to the south , France to the west , Germany to the north , and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east . Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps , the Swiss Plateau and the Jura , spanning an area of . While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory , the Swiss population of approximately eight million people is concentrated mostly on the plateau , where the largest cities are to be found : among them are the two global cities and economic centres Zürich and Geneva . Banque de Paris et des Pays - Bas S . A . ( Paribas , Bank of Paris and the Netherlands ) was a French investment bank based in Paris that in May ___MASK94___ merged with Banque National de Paris S . A . to form BNP Paribas . " Les Pays - Bas " (" The Low - Countries ") is French for the Netherlands . Power Corporation of Canada is a diversified international management and Canadian holding company . Through its subsidiary , Power Financial Corporation , it has interests in companies in the financial services sector in Canada , the United States and Europe . Through its subsidiary , Square Victoria Communications Group , it holds interest in companies from the communications and media sector . Power Corporation also holds and actively manages a portfolio of investments in the United States , Europe and Asia . The company has $ 785B in assets under management and $ ___MASK19___ . ___MASK48___ trillion in assets under administration . The city of Bern or Berne (; Bernese German : " Bärn " ) is the de facto capital of Switzerland , referred to by the Swiss as their ( e . g . in German ) " Bundesstadt ," or " federal city ". With a population of 141 , ___MASK14___ ( November 2016 ), Bern is the fourth most populous city in Switzerland . The Bern agglomeration , which includes 36 municipalities , had a population of 406 , ___MASK73___ in ___MASK22___ . The metropolitan area had a population of 660 , 000 in ___MASK94___ . Bern is also the capital of the canton of Bern , the second most populous of Switzerland ' s cantons . Paris ( French : ) is the capital and most populous city of France . It has an area of and a population in ___MASK86___ of 2 , 229 , 621 within its administrative limits . The city is both a commune and department , and forms the centre and headquarters of the Île - de - France , or Paris Region , which has an area of and a population in ___MASK22___ of 12 , 005 , 077 , comprising ___MASK81___ . 2 percent of the population of France . Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia . Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north , the Atlantic Ocean to the west , and the Mediterranean Sea to the south . To the east and southeast , Europe is generally considered as separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian and Black Seas , and the waterways of the Turkish Straits . Yet the non - oceanic borders of Europe  a concept dating back to classical antiquity  are arbitrary . The primarily physiographic term " continent " as applied to Europe also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the continent ' s current overland boundaries . Pierre Mauroy ( ___MASK57___ July 1928  7 June 2013 ) was a French Socialist politician who was Prime Minister of France from ___MASK62___ to 1984 under President François Mitterrand . Mauroy also served as Mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001 . At the time of his death Mauroy was the emeritus mayor of the city of Lille . He died from complications of lung cancer on June 7 , 2013 at the age of 84 . Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in central - western Europe . It includes ___MASK34___ constituent states , covers an area of , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate . With about 82 million inhabitants , Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union . After the United States , it is the second most popular immigration destination in the world . Germany ' s capital and largest metropolis is Berlin . Other major cities include Hamburg , Munich , Cologne , Frankfurt , Stuttgart and Düsseldorf . The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world ' s oceans with a total area of about . It covers approximately ___MASK61___ percent of the Earth ' s surface and about ___MASK29___ percent of its water surface area . It separates the " Old World " from the " New World ". The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau constitutes one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland alongside the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps . It covers about ___MASK42___ % of the Swiss surface . It comprises the regions between the Jura and the Alps , partly flat but mostly hilly , and lies at an average height between ___MASK6___ and ___MASK7___ m AMSL . It is by far the most densely populated region of Switzerland , and the most important with respect to economy and transportation . Lake Geneva ( or ' , sometimes ' ) is a lake on the north side of the Alps , shared between Switzerland and France . It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône . ___MASK37___ . 53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland ( cantons of Vaud , Geneva , and Valais ), and 40 . 47 % under France ( department of Haute - Savoie ). BNP Paribas is a French multinational bank and financial services company with global headquarters in Paris ., with a presence in 75 countries . It is listed on the First Market of Euronext Paris and is included in the CAC 40 index . At ___MASK3___ , net income attributable to equity holders was EUR6 , 694 million . François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand ( 26 October ___MASK75___  8 January 1996 ) was a French politician who was President of France from ___MASK62___ to 1995 , the longest time in office of any French president . As leader of the Socialist Party , he was the first figure from the left elected president under the Fifth Republic . The Ural or Jayq / Zhayyq (, ), known as Yaik before ___MASK63___ , is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan in Eurasia . It originates in the southern Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea . At , it is the third - longest river in Europe after the Volga and the Danube , and the 18th - longest river in Asia . The Ural River is conventionally considered part of the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia . Geneva (, , , ) is the second most populous city in Switzerland ( after Zürich ) and is the most populous city of Romandy , the French - speaking part of Switzerland . Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva , it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva .