Santonian Investments

The Fond national saintongeais (FNS, "Santonian National Fund") is Saintonge’s sovereign wealth fund. It was formerly known as Société nationale d'investissement de Saintonge (SNIS, “National Investment Company of Saintonge”) Created in 1901 by the Loi du projet d’or (“Law of the Golden Project”), it is tasked with managing and investing the surplus revenues of several sectors of the Santonian economy, including those of crown corporations (government-owned corporations). After more than a century of investments, FNS/SNIS has grown to about IBU 112,000 (£168,000) per citizen, with a total asset value of two-and-a-half times the size of the Santonian GDP.

Contributors
The main contributors to the FNS/SNIS are:

• Banque royale de Saintonge (BRS, Royal Bank of Saintonge) – the country’s central bank
• Aéroports de Saintonge (AedS) – airports
• Compagnie aérospatiale saintongeaise (CAS) – airplanes and aerospace industry
• Compagnie nationale du charbon et de l’acier (CNCA, National Coal and Steel Company)
• Compagnie nationale du cuivre (CNC, National Copper Company) – production of copper, nickel, cobalt, REEs, and other metals
• Compagnie saintongeaise des pétroles (CSP, Santonian Petroleum Company) – oil and gas
• Électricité de Saintonge (EdS) – electricity production, uranium and thorium mining and nuclear power
• Jeux saintongeaises (JS, Santonian Games) - gaming and lottery; also has a subsidiary (Arts Électroniques) that makes computer and video games (most famous for making the game Quatris)
• Mines royales de Saintonge (MRS, Royal Mines of Saintonge) – precious metals and gems
• Saintonge Télécom – telecommunications
• Société saintongeaise des chemins de fer (SSCF, Santonian Railway Company) – railways and trains

Other crown corporations also contribute their excess profits to the FNS/SNIS when available.

Objectives
The objectives of FNS/SNIS is to:

• To ensure the financial security of the Kingdom of Saintonge;
• To assist in the continued growth of the Santonian economy;
• To support Santonian corporations and industries that need investment;
• To aid in the development of sectors of Santonian economy; and
• To contribute in the management of the Santonian livre.

Based on its stated goals, FNS/SNIS is not a primarily profit-oriented fund. Any profits the fund makes may be taken by the Santonian government under strict conditions. (Santonian governments are not allowed to take out the capital.) Otherwise, FNS/SNIS will reinvest much of the profits, constantly increasing its portfolio. FNS/SNIS also has a tendency to hold its investments long-term and its disinterest in short-term profits.

FNS/SNIS invests in companies, stocks, bonds, and real estate and generally avoids vulture funds. The FNS/SNIS also assists the BRS in maintaining the value of the country’s currency as well, and is a valuable tool for managing the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Despite its goals primarily oriented for Saintonge, the FNS/SNIS also invests globally. Given Saintonge’s historic neutrality and aversion to imperialism, the FNS/SNIS is an attractive investment fund for foreign companies and other nations needing investments in sectors of their economy*, as Saintonge does not use the presence of its investment as a leverage or as a weapon against the country it is investing in.

In the lists below are the companies that FNS/SNIS has investments in. The lists are not exhaustive.
Lists of Santonian Companies with FNS/SNIS investment
Lists of Foreign Companies with FNS/SNIS investment

Statistics
Headquarters: E1000, Boulevard de Saintonge, 7^e arrondissement, 10007 Saintes
General Manager: Matthieu-Nicholas de Monnerville (general manager)
Assets (2021): IBU 13.85 trillion (£20.78 trillion)
Growth Rate: 0.98%
Net Income (2020): IBU 101.2 billion (£151.8 billion)

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*OOC: If you want SNIS to invest/to have invested in your company/nation, feel free to send me a message via Discord. I will put it in the list.

This list is not exhaustive. Numbers in parentheses indicate the value of the SNIS investment in the company.

Sophie-Saintélabo (£117 billion) – Saintonge’s largest pharmaceutical company, Sophie-Saintélabo was formed in 2007 after the amalgamation of Sophie (itself an amalgamation of the Société Pharmaceutique Internationale and Évrard Pharmaceutiques) and Saintes Laboratories (Saintélabo). SNIS held shares in all three of Sophie-Saintélabo’s predecessor companies; combined, SNIS now holds 22.5% of the stock in Sophie-Saintélabo.

LeFort (£2.06 billion)– a sportswear company based in Saintonge, the company founders Charles-Martin and Louis-Matthieu LeFort applied for and received an investment from SNIS in 1927. The company, now the largest sportswear company in Saintonge, is 33% owned by SNIS.

terrebonne (£49.06 billion) – the largest producer of dairy products in Saintonge, terrebonne is the largest dairy cooperative in Saintonge. In 1968, in a bid to modernize and expand its operations, terrebonne took an investment from SNIS. SNIS is the preferred investment partner of terrebonne, as SNIS did not insist on special voting rights, despite now owning 50% of the stocks in terrebonne. Decisions in terrebonne remain in the hands of its farmer-members.

Marché (£20.17 billion) – Saintonge's largest supermarket chain and a common sight in Santonian cities, Marché positions itself as an upscale supermarket abroad, specialising in Santonian products and other quality products sourced from throughout the region. Marché is not a low-cost supermarket chain (low-cost supermarket chains are notorious for poor-quality products, unethically-produced products, or environmentally-damaging products). The main reason why Marché cannot do so is that SNIS is a major shareholder, with 28% of shares, and that SNIS insists on ethical business practices.


JustePrix – popularly known as "JP", JustePrix is also another of Saintonge's largest supermarket chains and a common sight in Santonian cities, JustePrix is in the low-cost supermarket category that still respects labour laws and ethical sourcing practices. This is because JustePrix ("FairPrice") is owned by the Confédération saintongeaise du travail (CST, "Santonian Confederation of Labour"), the country's largest grouping of unions, as a social enterprise. Initially open only to members of the CST's unions, it was intended to give the working class an affordable place in which to shop. In its expansion, JP took in SNIS funding in 1973, on the condition that it be open to everybody. JP became the favoured place to shop by Santonians because of its reasonable prices and good service.

Paradours de Saintonge (£13.08 billion) – one of the largest hotel chains in Saintonge, Paradours de Saintonge is not an ordinary hotel company. Originally conceived in 1903 by the Ministry of Culture and the non-profit Patrimoine Saintongeaise, it aims to save Saintonge’s historic buildings, abbeys, churches, and castles from abandonment and ruin by converting them into inns and hostels while at the same time preserving their identity and character. Patrimoine Saintongeaise got seed money from SNIS in 1906, and while Paradours de Saintonge is technically a private-run corporation, it is three-fourths owned by SNIS. Paradours de Saintonge is popular in the country, being active in promoting Santonian culture and history, aside from being luxurious at a cheap price.

Viandelice (£109.68 million) – a company dedicated to producing imitation meat, SNIS provided seed money to Viandelice in 1994 as an angel investor. This enabled Viandelice to develop several processes to create plant- and mycoprotein-based imitation meat. While frowned upon by the large Santonian agriculture industry, Viandelice is rapidly expanding and gaining new customers among the urbanites, health-conscious, vegans, and climate-conscious in Saintonge and abroad.

MIKE – Saintonge's other large sportswear company, the company was founded by Michel-Ange Rossard in 1915. It took in SNIS founding in 1935 to fund its expansion.

Spilvel - When the owner of Spilvel, Heidi Høj de Rochedragon, fled from Prydania to Saintonge, she sought to re-establish and rebuild their family company that was seized by the Syndicalists back home. In order to rebuild, they needed seed capital. She and her husband, Charles-Ardouin Lavicomterie de Rochedragon, approached SNIS for additional capital. The refounded company became a success as big as the old one. When the Syndicalists were defeated in 2017, the Prydanian Spilvel was returned to the Rochedragons. The two companies merged, with SNIS maintaining a substantial equity in the company, but letting the Rochedragons do the management and decision-making in Spilvel.


NýjaRannsó - NýjaRannsó was the largest Prydanian multinational pharmaceutical company before the Civil War. It expanded to other countries during the prosperity of the reign of Robert VII and was one of the largest Prydanian companies. NýjaRannsó had investments in other countries, even in Saintonge. However, during the Syndicalist takeover of their home country, NýjaRannsó moved whatever they can (movable assets, leadership, research and development, some of the workforce, patent ownerships) to other countries, eventually consolidating them in Saintonge in 2005. Their consolidation and renewal of activities were helped by a SNIS investment in 2003 and the strong Prydanian refugee influx into Saintonge, which were the main factors in their decision to consolidate and relocate in Saintonge. NýjaRannsó is now technically a Santonian company (it is domiciled and registered in Saintonge), yet it is seen in Prydania as "one of their own", becoming one of the largest private donors for the reconstruction in Prydania and assisting the Prydanian community in Saintonge. Even most Santonians think that NýjaRannsó is a foreign company, despite it being the third-largest Santonian pharmaceutical company, after Sophie-Saintélabo and NovAstra.

There are also Prydanian companies which are subsidiaries/parallels of Santonian SNIS companies:
góðajörð - a cooperative similar to and set up under terrebonne, góðajörð works to improve the lot of farmers and improve the country's agricultural production.

Prydanska Gullið - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mines royales de Saintonge, which operates gold mines and other precious metal mines in Prydania.

Prydanskstál - Compagnie nationale du charbon et de l’acier (CNCA) invested in and bought Prydania's state steel producer and started to rebuild it and make it profitable again.

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SNIS had been involved and was very beneficial in the development of the technology sector in Saintonge, with the fund serving as the angel investor for many of the tech start-ups. Many of these start-ups failed, especially in the late 1990s to early 2000s, generating criticism from the government and the public. Then SNIS fund manager Brice-Ulrich Chevalier de Richemont (1997-2002) responded to the criticism by saying that one of the functions of SNIS is to assist Santonians in developing their great ideas and that in business, "you win some, you lose some." The criticism died down when many of the tech companies funded by SNIS became major industry behemoths in Saintonge and in Eras, generating income for the fund.

Some of the tech companies that SNIS had invested in include:

Minisoft - founded in 1975 by Guillaume Desportes and Paul-Alain Jardinier, Minisoft developed operating systems and software. Desportes and Jardinier approached SNIS for funding their expansion of their company in 1982. Minisoft's Vitrine operating system has since become the 'default' OS in Santonian computers.

chercher - another 'default' thing in Santonian computers because of its popularity, chercher is a search engine.

Facegram - the most popular social media platform in Saintonge, with almost all Santonians having accounts there, Facegram was founded in 2004 at the Ducal University of Artois, by college friends Matthias-Turstin Scheppers, Marc-Édouard Savorgnin, Thibault-Arthur Claeys, and André-Jacob Arbogast as their graduation thesis/project. They applied for SNIS funding in 2005, and SNIS holds a majority stake in the company.

Twitcher - another social media platform in Saintonge dedicated to 'miniblogging', Twitcher is popular among teenagers and young adults for its simplicity and ability to post short videos.

Viedéo - Saintonge's premier video-sharing platform, Viedéo is a portmanteau of the words vie ("life") and vidéo. Initially intended as a place where ordinary people can post their videos for viewing by other people, Viedéo has expanded its popularity, such that "Viedéo personalities" make careers and livelihoods out of it.

PaySafe - PaySafe is a safe online payments system, the brainchild of Adam-Isambard Brulatour de Géffosses and Timothée-Gilbert Boislandry. It is becoming increasingly popular with the explosive increase in online commerce.

Nile.com - Nile.com is the go-to place for online commerce, capturing almost two-thirds of the online market in Saintonge. Nile.com is also a portal through which Santonian products can be ordered abroad.

SMail - SMail, or Saintonge Mail, is an e-mail provider that is very popular. It is a sister company of chercher, with Marc-Gilbert de Saint-Martin, one of chercher's founders, applying for a second investment from SNIS to develop SMail in 2005. Because of its security features, SMail touts itself as the "Safe Mail", "Secure Mail", and "Simple Mail" provider.

Stopify - is a music streaming service that had seen its popularity skyrocket in the recent years.

Interflix - is a movie streaming service that, like Stopify, had seen its popularity increase massively in the recent years. It was initially a chain of family-owned video-rental stores in Bethany. The company decided to adapt to the introduction of the internet (that was killing its VHS/CD/DVD rental business) by offering online versions of movie rentals. To finance its move, the Kegelin family applied for SNIS funding in 2001. The movie streaming service grew with the growth of the internet. Now, Interflix not just streams movies made by production companies, but also creates its own content as well.

Pagoda - Pagoda is an online travel agency and metasearch engine for hotels, vacation rentals, flights, and airport transfer. It is well-known to prospective visitors to Saintonge.

Embr - Dating app Embr has been a surprising hit in famously conservative Saintonge, fueling the growth of the company.

Nuage.com - A cloud-storage company, its founders Charles-Grégoire Plard de Valdruche and Michel-Sébastien Naurissart applied for SNIS funding in 2010 with their business model that attempts to explore and open a niche in the market. Nowadays Nuage.com is one of the largest cloud-storage and cloud-computing companies in the world.

Antinomy - A videogame developer, known for grand-strategy games such as Crusader Nations, Eras Universalis, Alexandria, and Fists of Iron. Despite Arts Électroniques (another video game developer) being part of Jeux Saintongeaises (a component of FNS), the FNS is not barred from investing in competing companies.

Despite Saintonge being located faraway from Yamantau, SNIS had made significant investments in the country. SNIS investments were particularly welcome because of SNIS' hands-off approach when it comes to company management and employment, which keeps jobs within Yamantau.

Zakaev Energy Services/ZSE - the largest Yamanta oil and gas producer, SNIS had put in investment in 1956, but was pulled out in 1990. The FNS (the successor of SNIS) and the Compagnie saintongeaise des pétroles (CSP, Santonian Petroleum Company) announced that it is reinvesting in ZSE to help bring it back on its feet.

Uro Radiological/URL - URL is concerned with producing radioactive materials for domestic use and export. SNIS invested in 1973, but slowly pulled out in the 1980s following domestic (Santonian) concerns about nuclear proliferation.

Krial Excavations/KEX - KEX is the largest copper, gold, and silver producer in Yamantau. The Compagnie nationale du cuivre (CNC, National Copper Company) and the Mines royales de Saintonge (MRS, Royal Mines of Saintonge) are pursuing a partnership with KEX in order to modernise and improve the company, with FNS forwarding capital.

Prasalvat/PCC - reconstruction and infrastructure expansion in Yamantau necessitated expansion of local construction companies specializing in large structures. The FNS is providing seed capital for the expansion and enlargement of PCC so it can meet local demand.

Brazmar Holdings/BRK - building infrastructure needs heavy equipment, and BRK, a manufacturer of heavy equipment such as backhoes, bulldozers, excavators, and the like, is also getting FNS capital for its expansion plans.

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OOC: Post approved with Yamantau.

Saintonge is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and many great fashion houses have headquarters, big offices, or workshops in the country. Saintonge's fashion capitals are Saintes and Nyon, although Plaisance and Bâle have increasing presence of luxury goods and haute couture companies. The fashion calendar includes several big events in the country's cities, including the biannual (spring/autumn) Saintes Fashion Week and the biannual (summer/winter) Nyon Fashion Week.

Saintonge is also a good location for fashion startups, as the Société nationale d'investissement de Saintonge (SNIS) is known to invest in promising fashion houses with bulk of their operations in Saintonge. SNIS' predilection for simply injecting capital and leaving the management of the company to its owners/managers/visionaries made it a favoured investor among fashion houses, since it will not interfere in the creative direction and energies of the company.


Zuli - headquartered in both Zheth and Saintes, Zuli is a luxury fashion brand that aims to bring Ta-Meri concepts to haute couture. SNIS invested in the company in the 1970s when it expanded to the haute couture in Saintonge.


Valentine Dion - founded by a cobbler named Valentine Dion in 1875 Nogent-sur-Lisle, Dion initially made boots for soldiers. Eventually he expanded his workshop to creating boots for women at the behest of his daughter Céline. The boots for women were initially branded as CELINE, which eventually expanded to other leather goods under her leadership. Sensing a market for stylish male boots as well, Céline convinced his brother Stéphane (who inherited the bootmaking business) to branch into fashion boots (and not just workboots and jackboots) in 1902. DION for men and CELINE for women applied for seed funding with the newly-established SNIS, which they used to expand their business and branch to other high-quality, luxury leather goods. The two companies were merged by Céline and Stéphane's children into the Valentine Dion company in 1930. Their leather products became popular among the wealthy, and they branched to haute couture in the 1970s. Because of the growth of Valentine Dion company, the initial seed investment by SNIS (never withdrawn by the investment fund) grew to be worth millions of livres.


Ulysses Litton ("Uly Litton") - popularly known as Uly Litton or its monogram UL, the company started as a luggage-making company in the then Saintes suburb of Saint-Herblain-devant-Saintes (now part of the 10^th arrondissement of Saintes) in 1850. Ulysses Litton, a malletier (trunk-maker) rendered homeless by the Great Fire of Saintes in 1850, resettled in the left-bank suburb of St-Herblain. Litton saw the market for trunk- and luggage-making in the exodus of fire victims of Saintes. He saw that the homeless tried to stack the curved trunks on top of another in carts, but this was difficult as the rounded-top trunks (to promote water runoff) cannot be stacked. Thus, he innovated by producing flat-topped trunks, which can be stacked on carts. The Bethanian canvas he used also made the trunks watertight and lightweight. Because many other copied his innovations, Litton stamped his trunks with his trademark monogram UL. Uly Litton trunks eventually became popular among travelers and visitors to Saintes, so much so that the company opened its flagship store (and still its oldest store) at the Place de l'Espérance in Saintes, to cater to the people leaving the port of Saintes. In the early 20^th century, the company branched out to high-end luxury goods, aided by SNIS investments in 1911.

les Senteurs de Griffonné - popularly shortened as les Senteurs abroad, les Senteurs de Griffonné ("the Scents of Griffonné") is a company selling luxury perfumes, face, and bath and body products based in the town of Carqueiranne (Capoterre). in 1964, Thibault-Alexis Brizard de Montauroux, who had just finished his degree in chemistry from the University of Saintes, suddenly inherited his great-granduncle's huge estates in Montauroux (Capoterre). Being unemployed, he resorted to harvesting the lavender and rosemary fields in his new estate and processing them through steam distillation to make essential oils, which he sold. Nearby Carqueiranne was the centre of perfume production in Saintonge, and so Brizard de Montauroux decided to create his own perfumes. He planted his estates with a wide variety of plants and flowers, which he uses to make perfumes, soaps and other products. The production is artisanal, hand-made, and all-natural (despite Brizard de Montauroux being a chemist, les Senteurs does not use synthetic chemicals). Les Senteurs became popular in the 1990s, and became increasingly so with the booming popularity of artisanal and natural products. Because of the limited volume and seasonal production, les Senteurs became high-end luxury products. Les Senteurs applied for seed funding with SNIS in 1980, so that Brizard de Montauroux could expand and train farmer's and worker's cooperatives in the Carqueiranne area for the production of Les Senteurs products.

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OOC: Post approved with Haven. Work in progress. Will add more soon!

Saintonge is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and many great fashion houses have headquarters, big offices, or workshops in the country. Saintonge's fashion capitals are Saintes and Nyon, although Plaisance and Bâle have increasing presence of luxury goods and haute couture companies. The fashion calendar includes several big events in the country's cities, including the biannual (spring/autumn) Saintes Fashion Week and the biannual (summer/winter) Nyon Fashion Week.

Saintonge is also a good location for fashion startups, as the Société nationale d'investissement de Saintonge (SNIS) is known to invest in promising fashion houses with bulk of their operations in Saintonge. SNIS' predilection for simply injecting capital and leaving the management of the company to its owners/managers/visionaries made it a favoured investor among fashion houses, since it will not interfere in the creative direction and energies of the company.


Douce & Gabrelle – usually shortened to D&G, this company is one of the few famous fashion houses to be founded by lesbians. D&G was established by lesbian couple Douce Mouterde and Gabrelle (Gabrielle) Barbin in 1984 with seed funding from SNIS. D&G’s niche market was initially lesbian fashion, pioneering what was called “butchwear”. It achieved widespread popularity in the 2000s, after the decidedly masculine-looking fashion was discovered by “metrosexual” straight young males. After initially rejecting the “reappropriation” of their fashion, Mouterde and Barbin soon embraced the new clientele, as Barbin thought that “It signifies that our butchwear becoming accepted in wider society. No longer are lesbians seen as ‘imitating’ males; it’s now males who are imitating lesbians.” D&G now also makes male-specific high fashion lines; their first male fashion line Androgyne debuted at the 2006 Saintes Fashion Week.


Stórbjörn Borg – this Prydanian-sounding luxury underwear manufacturer was actually founded by Santonian lingerie manufacturer Triomphe, famous for being sold door-to-door and through catalogues. Triomphe initially tried to make briefs for men in 1986, selling them to women for their husbands. However, Triomphe was inundated with complaints that the men did not like the underwear because “their packages don’t fit”. Triomphe withdrew their line of male underwear, with their analysis showing that sizing for male underwear is different from that of panties. After tweaking their designs, Triomphe re-launched the line of briefs, boxers, and jocks in 1989. They chose the Prydanian-looking name ‘Stórbjörn Borg’ (translation: “Big Björn Borg”), partly because of popular perception that Prydanian men have big packages. Their racy slogans include “Big Briefs for Big Boys’ Big Bulges” and “Don’t Suffocate Your Future Generations!”; they even included a fictitious biography of Stórbjörn Borg, a Prydanian tennis player famous for his shades. Sales skyrocketed and Triomphe spun off Stórbjörn Borg as a separate company in 1999, taking on SNIS funding. Stórbjörn Borg also has a reputation for being a sporty brand, favoured by athletes and sportspeople.


Lactose – the Fascist War and the resultant upheaval in fibre markets led to the search and popularisation of alternatives to cotton and wool. A discovery by Antoine Ferret in 1936 that regenerated casein from milk can form milk fibres, which can then be used as a naturally-derived wool substitute. Soyeux Noël, the company Ferret works for, confusingly named the fibre “Lactose” in its patent (lactose is also known as “milk sugar”). It was named as such because the fibre came from milk (‘lactis’ in Umbrial) with the ending -ose, akin to other regenerated fibres like viscose (rayon). Ferret also stated that “it was probably to confuse competitors as to what it actually was… was it made of lactose polymer? Or maybe polylactate? One wouldn’t immediately think it was protein.” Lactose became a staple for cold-weather clothing in wartime Saintonge, as wool prices rose up due to increased worldwide demand for materials for soldier’s uniforms.

After the war, Soyeux Noël spun off Lactose as an independent company, aided by SNIS funding. Lactose moved on from its signature fibre and incorporated other fibres in its winter wear, which it was primarily known for until the 1960s. Lactose then ventured into other animal fibres and even leather. Lactose got its logo after it introduced the crocodile leather jacket Croco in the 1970s. The crocodile logo became entrenched in the branding, including in its popular tennis shirts.


Véridique – translated as “Truthful”, this fashion brand was conceived by Jean-Donat Bardet in 1994 as a “true, honest couture”, making animal-free, cruelty-free, and slavery-free high fashion, which also comes at a premium price. As such, the label’s principles were a great fit for SNIS’ ‘ethical investing’ practices, which helped it expand in the 2000s. It previously sourced all of its materials from Saintonge, but has since used imported materials, provided it was produced in line with its high standards.

The logo is based off the Bouche de la Vérité, a pre-Umbrial marble mask unearthed at Côme (ancient Novum Comum), where is thought to be used as a drain cover. According legend, the Bouche de la Vérité will bite off the hand of any liar who places their hand in its mouth, or, alternatively, anyone who utters a lie while their hand is in the mouth. It has featured in novels, shows, and pop culture even before its use as a logo for the fashion brand.


Dobsen – in 1968, couturier Charles Dobsen had a problem: after introducing his line of clothing for men named after himself, he found out that men associated his surname more with the Dobsen* car engine than with high fashion. He had gotten SNIS fundings for his fashion house, but nowhere was it gaining success that he wanted. Instead of fighting the reputation, Dobsen embraced it: he began making automobile- and racing-themed fashion, even enlisting famous racecar drivers as endorsers. With the increasing popularity of motorsports such as the E-series, Dobsen’s popularity also increased.

*OOC Note: Dobsen engine = Diesel engine IRL