FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION: FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICES - 2019 EDITION

82 5  z EVENTS AFFECTINGTHE SHAREHOLDING STRUCTURE CHANGES INTHE SHAREHOLDING STRUCTURE Voting rights and shares making up the share capital According to article 223-16 of the AMF General Regulations, every month, issuers are required to send to the AMF and publicly disclose the total number of shares and voting rights making up the share capital if those figures differ from the information previously disclosed (a sample press release is shown in Appendix 12 of the Guide to filing regulatory information with the AMF and to its dissemination). Information on the number of shares and voting rights making up issuers’ share capital is not published on the AMF’s website. It is disseminated by issuers within the scope of their regulated information. Consequently, issuers must ensure that the information is disclosed effectively and in full, and is posted on their own website. Crossing of legal thresholds (information for which the shareholder is responsible) Pursuant to article L. 233-7 of the French Commercial Code, any individual or legal entity, acting alone or in concert, holding directly or indirectly a number of shares that crosses a legal disclosure threshold (i.e., 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, one-third, 50%, two-thirds, 90% or 95% of the issuer’s share capital or voting rights), whether upwards or downwards, must notify the issuer no later than the fourth trading day after the shareholding threshold has been crossed. Article 223-14 of the AMF General Regulations requires these persons to also notify the AMF, no later than the close of trading on the fourth trading day after the shareholding threshold has been crossed. Information on crossed shareholding thresholds is considered regulatory information and full and effective disclosure of such information is now exceptionally provided by the AMF itself on its website (articles 221-1 1 m) and 221-3 of the AMF General Regulations). The automatic granting of double voting rights has been in effect since April 2, 2016 (unless stipulated otherwise in the articles of association) for all fully paid shares that can be proven to have been held in the same name for at least two years. Consequently, shareholders should be particularly attentive to crossing these thresholds. The AMF publishes this information on its website once it has received the form for disclosing the threshold crossing. A model disclosure form is also available on the AMF website. It appears that the AMF has not yet adapted this form to all those subject to the notification requirement (see below), since the form still includes a section for the party ultimately controlling the notifier. Crossing of legal tresholds: n SOLOCAL