The State has crossed the 90 % course in the capital of the electrician. This condition a priori sufficient for the redemption of minorities is however slowed down by the expectation of a decision of the Paris Court of Appeal.
by Marjorie Cessac
The case could have passed like a letter to the post office. However, it is clear that it takes more time than expected. The state takeover by the State of 100 % of the capital of EDF (against 84 % before the State launched its operation), for 9.7 billion euros was announced in July 2022 by the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, then launched on November 24. The operation, which must give the state the hands free to implement its nuclear revival policy, should have ended during the fall, then at the end of December. But that was to count without the sling of small shareholders, who have multiplied the appeals in recent months.
At the end of one of them, on December 7, 2022, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers indeed decided to postpone this Sine Die period, “pending the decision of the court D ‘Call of Paris on the request of stay “claimed by these minorities. The latter complain that the company has been, in the expert report, under a claimant, and judge the recovery price of 12 euros per insufficient action.
A more tense context than the state had probably imagined, even if, Friday, January 20, the latter won a round, by reaching, in a few weeks since appeals, to buy enough actions for Now hold 90 % of the electrician’s capital and voting rights on a diluted basis. A determining threshold, which allows him to force the last irreducible to sell their shares to him, before the compulsory withdrawal of EDF shares from the Place de Paris.
“this must go through this must go through The law “
This step crossed, the State will however be able to finalize its offer through this compulsory withdrawal only on the condition of having obtained a court decision which is favorable to it. “We asked that the compulsory withdrawal of the scholarship could not be done before the judgment at the bottom of the court of appeal, which will be pronounced no later than May 2, details Colette Neuville, president of the Association de Défense minority shareholders.
On January 25, an audience will be held to examine this stay. While a second is scheduled at the bottom, on March 23, when the courtyard will say when it will make its stop. “The compulsory withdrawal would occur at the earliest on April 15 and no later than early May, everything will depend on the date of the judgment,” continues Colette Neuville.
The soap is therefore not finished. Especially since the subject could come back to the front of the political scene. With the examination, on February 9, in the National Assembly, of a socialist bill which advocates “a real nationalization” of EDF, by making its capital incessible. “The idea is that Parliament regains control,” said Philippe Brun, the socialist deputy at the origin of this initiative. “If the State wants to separate EDF activities, it must go through law,” he insists. In its sense, the exit from the group on the coast could foreshadow its future dismantling. What does not stop refute the government.