France, Aug. 3 -- Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu issued a decree on Sunday extending France's investment-screening system to acquisitions of 10 percent or more of a listed French company operating in a sensitive sector - regardless of whether its shares are traded in France or abroad.

The government said the measure was intended to prevent opportunistic investors from acquiring influential stakes in French businesses and technologies considered vital to national security.

Under the previous rules, transactions were generally subject to screening when a non-European investor acquired 25 percent of the voting rights in a French company.

A lower 10 percent threshold already applied to certain French companies listed on regulated markets...