The Financial Markets Authority (AMF) will provisionally close the State’s takeover bid for EDF at the beginning of February, pending a judgment on an appeal which delays the closing of the operation (AFP/Archives/DENIS CHARLET )
New stage in the saga of the 100% renationalisation of EDF: the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) announced on Wednesday that it was going to close provisionally at the beginning of February the public takeover bid (OPA) of the State, pending a judgment on an appeal which delays the completion of the operation.
The complete takeover, valued at 9.7 billion euros, is strategic for the State. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced it last July in her general policy speech, and the government wanted to wrap everything up at the end of October.
The goal: to free EDF from the stock market to allow the State to more easily revive nuclear power in France, by building between six and 14 new reactors in the coming decades.
But small shareholders are contesting the takeover bid, particularly over the price of 12 euros per share set by the state to buy back their shares, deemed too low. They have launched all-out procedures for months to slow down the operation and try to raise this price.
Everything is now in the hands of the Court of Appeal, which must decide on the merits of the case no later than May 2, with a first hearing on March 23.
By then, the takeover bid will be “closed on February 3”, according to a press release from the AMF, but this will have no consequences, Bercy having undertaken not to complete the operation before the judgment.
If a future judgment confirms that the takeover bid is compliant, the State will be able to renationalise.
The offer will certainly be reopened for ten working days before being definitively closed, but without suspense. Because since the State has recently controlled more than 90% of EDF’s capital and voting rights, it will then be able to initiate a compulsory withdrawal of EDF shares from the Paris Stock Exchange, that is to say force the 10% of remaining minority shareholders to sell their shares at 12 euros each.
Before the takeover, the state held 84% of EDF.
– State timeout –
The provisional closure, announced Wednesday during a hearing at the Paris Court of Appeal, should allow the payment of money to certain shareholders who have already contributed their shares, without waiting for the outcome of these legal proceedings aimed at raise the price.
Otherwise, if the compliance decision issued in November by the AMF is canceled by the judges, the shareholders who have already tendered their shares will be able to recover them. If the State then wants to revise its offer upwards, it will pay an additional price to those who have not requested the return of their shares.
During the hearing on Wednesday, all the applicants withdrew from an emergency procedure against the OPA pending the examination on the merits.
They have indeed obtained that the State undertakes not to complete the renationalization until the Court of Appeal has ruled on the merits of the case.
“The French State has made commitments, including in particular that of + not implementing a compulsory withdrawal before the decision +”, indicated on Tuesday in a press release the association Energie en actions, one of the authors of the request for a stay. .
“The State will not launch the compulsory withdrawal before the judge has ruled on the appeal on the merits”, confirmed to AFP the State Participation Agency (APE).
“These state commitments are exactly what we wanted,” said Martine Faure, leader of the rebellious small shareholders of EDF, to AFP.
The AMF had decided to postpone the conclusion of this takeover offer, initially scheduled for December 22, “pending the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal on the request for a stay”.
Initially, the takeover bid was due to end on December 22, but the AMF had extended the operation without a new deadline, pending the court decision.
© 2023 AFP
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