As part of its monitoring service for investors to help them in the compulsory notification of ownership to the French Financial Authority and to the companies, Proxinvest noted various breaches from French issuers, notably with respect to the key information about the total number of outstanding shares and voting rights. The French Financial Authority, AMF, which is responsible for checking the compliance of the issuers, has been alerted.
Proxinvest noted breaches in the respect of the articles 221-1, 221-3, 223-16 of the AMF General Regulations and of articles L233-8-II and R225-73-1 of the French Commercial Code.
Without timely and reliable information about the total number of shares and voting rights, investors cannot fulfill their duties to notify their ownership. This is particularly worrying since there is a risk of financial penalty on officers of the investor as well as a risk of deprivation of voting rights. It may become very challenging to comply with this obligation due to the short notice for the notification (4 days), a large number of low statutory thresholds in the by-laws (down to 0.50% of the shares or voting rights) and finally due to the high number of companies with double voting rights for registered shareholders.
Proxinvest conducted a limited audit of the French market and identified 22 issuers which do not respect their obligations in terms of release of regulated information. Some French companies are not even aware that a double voting right is now in place in their company following the Florange Act! Another company was obliged to recalculate the voting results after Proxinvest warning.
Financial market can only work properly if everyone respects the rules … It is surely not acceptable to have ownership disclosure duties for investors without providing them with proper information to carry out this duty!
Proxinvest is an investor advisory firm based in Paris (France). For more information about Proxinvest services, please contact Loïc Dessaint, CEO, by using the page CONTACT of the website.
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