PARIS (Reuters) – The Paris Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected an appeal filed by minority shareholders of EDF against the green light from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) to the French state’s takeover bid on the group titles.

The group’s employee shareholders and the Association for the Defense of Minority Shareholders (Adam) opposed the terms of complete renationalisation of EDF, notably contesting the price of 12 euros per share proposed by the State, deemed too low.

In a press release, the Court of Appeal said it considered, like the AMF, that the project had been established “in compliance with the principles of equal treatment of shareholders and market transparency”.

The Court also found the bid price to be fair.

For its part, the Ministry of Economy and Finance specified in a press release that the offer would be reopened, then followed “by the compulsory withdrawal at the end of the reopening period”.

“The offer will be reopened from May 4 to 17, 2023 (inclusive) under the same financial conditions”, specified the ministry, i.e. at a price of 12.00 euros per EDF share and 15.52 euros per convertible bond (Oceane) .

EDF declined to comment.

The president of the association for the defense of minority shareholders declined to comment, highlighting the need to fully understand the decision and the possible legal options.

The French State had indicated in January that it would not complete the procedure for the complete renationalization of EDF before the courts rendered its decision on this appeal.

Announced last July, the renationalisation, of around 9.7 billion euros, should allow the government to more freely steer the vast project of renewing the French nuclear fleet announced a year ago by Emmanuel Macron.

The French State currently holds 95.82% of the capital and at least 96.53% of the voting rights of EDF.

(Report America Hernandez, written by Kate Entringer, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)

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