(News Bulletin 247) – Patrick Pouyanné, on the occasion of the day dedicated to the company’s investors, confirmed that the company was working on this second listing, which would be added to that of Paris. Technical aspects remain to be verified but this project is supported “unanimously” by the board of directors, he assured.

Totalenergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné confirmed on Wednesday the work underway to obtain a dual stock market listing in New York, in addition to Paris, specifying for the first time that the project was “unanimously supported” by the board of directors.

In front of investors gathered in Paris, the manager provided details on this project which caused a lot of noise in France, within the political class, faced with the fear of seeing the group move its main listing to New York, as initially mentioned. end of April.

“Just to be clear, because I know that what I say today will be listened to in Paris: Paris will remain the stock market for the introduction of Totalenergies shares,” said Patrick Pouyanné.

“We are already listed in New York,” he said, explaining that the project consisted of transforming securities already traded in New York into ordinary shares, in a form reserved for foreign companies.

Transform ADRs

“We just want to transform the ADRs (American Depositary Receipts) into ordinary shares,” he said, citing a simplification of management for American shareholders and the desire to increase liquidity on its title.

“It won’t be a revolution,” he put things into perspective. These ADRs now represent 9% of the company’s capital.

“The board of directors therefore unanimously supports these plans to transform ADRs into ordinary shares,” he added, thus putting an end to rumors of divisions within the board of directors reported in the press. .

Technical aspects remain to be clarified, he stressed: “If it is technically feasible, because it requires IT developments and a certain time to be operational.” “It is therefore work in progress (…), in conjunction with the European and American authorities,” he explained.

Political reactions

By revealing to Bloomberg at the end of April that the group was studying a possible primary listing of its group in New York, the CEO of Totalenergies attracted the wrath of the French political class, with President Emmanuel Macron asking him to “clarify” his position.

Patrick Pouyanné subsequently mentioned a “translation error”: he did not want to talk about a main listing on Wall Street but about a transformation into classic shares of these ADR securities.

The CEO explained to Bloomberg, then to the Senate in Paris, that Americans buy more shares than Europeans, less fond of fossil fuel projects and more constrained by sustainable investment standards. Thus, a proper dual listing would allow the group to obtain capital more easily.

Nearly half of Totalenergies’ shareholders (48%) are now made up of North American institutional shareholders (pension funds, asset managers, insurers, etc.).

(With AFP)