Notification of Crossed Shareholder Thresholds and Statements of Intent - International Law Office

On October 23 2008 a working group established by the Autorité de marchés financiers (AMF), the stock market regulator, published a report(1) containing 21 recommendations to amend regulations on notification of crossing shareholding thresholds and statements of intent.

Among the recommendations are the following:

• in relation to notifications of crossing shareholding thresholds: (i) for the purposes of threshold calculation, assimilation of securities which the shareholder has the right to acquire by virtue of a financial instrument (option); and (ii) the obligation for shareholders owning more than 3% of the capital of a company to make themselves known to the AMF. The current threshold is 5%;
• in relation to statements of intent, the introduction of (i) of 15% and 25% thresholds, and (ii) a requirement that the statement be submitted within six months of a threshold being crossed (the current deadline is 12 months); and
• in relation to the threshold for mandatory offers, the introduction of a threshold at 25% or 30% of voting rights (the current threshold is one-third of the listed share capital).

This report was subject to public consultation until November 14 2008.

For further information on this topic please contact Philip Boys at Lovells by telephone (+33 1 53 67 47 47) or by fax (+33 1 53 67 47 48) or by email (philip.boys@lovells.com). The Lovells website can be accessed at www.lovells.com.

Endnotes

(1) The full report is available at www.amf-france.org/documents/general/8479_1.pdf.