The Paris commercial court on Friday rejected requests from EDF shareholder employees who question the terms of the renationalization by the state and the repurchase price of their shares, according to a ruling consulted by AFP. FCPE Actions EDF and the Energie en actions association had sued the group a month after a board meeting was held on October 27, which had issued a favorable opinion on the operation.
They denounced in particular a parody of consultation, because the documents on which this board of directors worked on this famous October 27 were communicated the day before for the next day. On this point, the court agreed with them, noting that these “particularly voluminous” and “technical” documents, one of which was written in English, had been transmitted very late.
“No director can usefully read, analyze and reflect on the hundreds of pages communicated, in the space of one night in which it is not a minor decision of the board of directors but an absolutely important decision for EDF,” criticized the court. , recalling that a board of directors “is not a record chamber”.
Shareholders believe the company is undervalued
However, it noted that EDF had met again with its board on the same issue on November 20 and that, therefore, there was no longer any reason to complain and consider that EDF had not adequately informed its directors. The court also dismissed the other arguments of the worker shareholders, who specifically accuse the State of having favored their interests to the detriment of minority shareholders, by offering 12 euros per repurchased share.
This price was validated by a report prepared by an independent expert, but small shareholders believe that the company is undervalued and that EDF has been unfairly penalized in its income by a mechanism imposed by the State (Arenh) that forces them to sell electricity to low price. prices to alternative suppliers. Shareholder workers who are demanding 15 euros per share have multiplied the procedures, in particular before the Court of Appeal in Paris. The executive has decided to renationalize 100% of EDF, which is already 84% state-owned, to have free rein to pilot a nuclear reactivation, making EDF the main electricity producer in Europe.
Source: BFM TV
