The focus group advocated the prior consultation of the General Shareholders' Meeting for major asset disposals of listed companies, a concept for which it proposes a definition.
The AMF Board commissioned a study on the appropriateness of a more organised procedure to regulate major asset disposals of listed companies. An ad hoc group was therefore set up in May 2014 under the chairmanship of Christian Schricke, a member of the Board.
By resorting to 'soft law', the group advocated a consultation of the General Shareholders' Meeting upstream of any major asset disposal of a listed company. The AMF Board has decided to launch a public consultation on the different possible options:
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The 'soft law' option proposed by the group or a legislative solution ('hard law’)
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The choice of criteria enabling an asset to be classified as 'major'
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Market information arrangements on the disposal procedure
To assess whether the proposed disposal operation actually concerns major assets of a listed company, the focus group suggests examining four criteria. If two of them meet or exceed a determined threshold, a General Shareholders' Meeting should then be convened. The AMF is currently consulting on the advisability of setting this threshold at 50%. The four assessment criteria proposed are:
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The turnover of the divested assets in relation to consolidated turnover
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The sale price of these assets in relation to total market capitalisation
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The net value of these assets in relation to the total of the consolidated balance sheet
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The pre-tax income of these assets in relation to the same consolidated income
Contributions to the consultation should be returned no later than 20 March 2015.
Full press release
© AMF - Autorité des Marchés Financiers
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