Latham & Watkins published on various legal developments in the field of securities law in France 

Securities Law in France: 9 Recent Legal Developments

In the last six months, various legal developments have taken place in the field of securities law in France.

1. The Law of 29 March 2014 introduced certain legal and regulatory provisions relating to takeover bids in order to protect minority shareholders against ‘creeping’ takeovers and to ensure that employees of the target company have the right to information regarding any such takeover. These rules entered into force in July 2014.

2. The Law of 29 March 2014 also provided for certain measures encouraging shareholders in public companies to hold their shares for long periods of time, in particular by granting doublevoting rights to loyal shareholders. These rules entered into force in July 2014.

3. French regulations have been reinforced to tighten control on foreign investment, and in parallel a mbill has recently been introduced which, if passed, would require the mandatory filing of a tender offer in circumstances in which the main asset of a public company is to be sold.

4. A new EU Market Abuse Regulation was adopted in April 2014 dealing with market abuse and this regulation will enter into force in July 2016.

5. The European Court of Human Rights may challenge the dual-penalty system (comprising both criminal and financial penalties) for market abuse.

6. The French financial market Authority (Autorité des marchés financiers) (the AMF) and the Corporate Governance Supervisory Committee reports highlight issues and progress made in 2014 in corporate governance, including the outcome of the first application by the French public companies of the ‘say-on-pay’ rule.

7. Companies may now identify their shareholders and bondholders in order to provide for better
communication of financial information to investors.

8. Following the issuance of the report of the AMF working group on IPO, new rules relating to IPOs were introduced in January 2015.

9. New rules governing crowdfunding were introduced in October 2014.

Read more LW-securities-law-developments-France

Source: Latham & Watkins – Securities Law in France: 9 Recent Legal Developments

---