Item — HN Reader

There's no real evidence of the French state nationalizing Soitec.

>Last is Team France. With the exception of Francoise Chombar, they are all French Nationals. I put Francoise Chombar on Team France because she shares a board with Eric Meurice at Umicore, so I assume she’s on his team.

How exactly are these directors "Team France?" There's no reason to believe that they are agents of the French government just because they're French nationals.

>All of the board actions in conjunction means that this was likely premeditated by the controlling shareholders - the state of France - to further control Soitec.

Bpifrance and CEA are state-owned, but the free float is 61%, not to mention BlackRock's 8% stake. There doesn't seem to be anything stopping the shareholders who make up the free float from voting out the board or accepting a tender offer.

4 comments

Is this a typical board action?

  The board granted itself extensive power through a list of resolutions added to the typical bylaws of the company at the so-called “extraordinary shareholders general meeting”. It’s rare to see an extraordinary resolution, so it’s outright mind-boggling to see 35 resolutions. This is one of the broadest power grabs I’ve ever seen.

Is this a common restriction on shareholders?

  When NSIG (National Silicon Industry Group aka China) bought the 14.5% stake in Soitec, they agreed to a standstill agreement on the shares ... Should NSIG Sunrise S.à.r.l acquire shares in the Company before the expiration of the Shareholders’ Agreement at the close of the Shareholders’ General Meeting called to approve the ﬁnancial statements for the ﬁscal year ended March 31, 2021, it would lose its rights relating to the Company’s governance

> There doesn't seem to be anything stopping the shareholders who make up the free float from voting out the board or accepting a tender offer.

What are some good examples of uncoordinated free-float shareholders influencing corporate governance?

HN ranking history of this thread: https://hnrankings.info/34539669/

Yea, it does. Eg the clause to distribute shares is basically a poison pill with extra steps

This reads like a board scared of a hostile takeover, which seems reasonable given geopolitics rn

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/poisonpill.asp#toc-what...

How have I not heard of that hnrankings before? That's very cool.

"Team France" is more literal to the name than it seems. It's keeping the control within France, not necessarily connected to the government at the time

How is BlackRock investments in foreign national or critically important ventures even allowed?

This piece is a puff piece written from the Anglosphere to drive panic and ensure that their broad narratives like the general anti-china narrative succeed in driving wedges on broad issues relating to French and paneuropean national security