PARIS (Reuters) – The decision of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) on the offer filed by the State to buy back the 16% of the capital of EDF that it does not yet hold should come just after the next meeting of the College of the Constable of the Stock Exchange scheduled for Tuesday, November 22, we learned from two sources familiar with the process.
One of the sources interviewed by Reuters said she considered a green light from the AMF likely, adding that the declaration of compliance, initially hoped for around November 8, had taken longer than expected due in particular to exchanges with EDF on the conditions under which the group’s board of directors recommended the State’s offer.
The AMF, Bercy and EDF declined to comment on this information.
The EDF Board ruled on October 27, by a majority of the members who took part in the vote, that the State’s offer of 12.0 euros per share and 15.52 euros per convertible bond (Oceane) allowed minority shareholders to sell their shares at a price deemed fair by an independent expert.
Employee shareholders dispute the conditions under which the body ruled, arguing in particular that the outgoing CEO, Jean-Bernard Lévy, was appointed by the State and therefore should not have taken part in the vote.
The cost of the complete renationalisation of EDF is estimated at just over 9.6 billion euros. The operation is supposed to allow it to carry out its projects, against the backdrop of the fight against climate change and soaring energy prices, while the group is in difficulty due to the limitation of electricity tariffs and the reduction in its nuclear production.
(Reporting Benjamin Mallet and Leigh Thomas; editing by Kate Entringer and Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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