General
Pursuant to the legal and regulatory provisions currently in force, and in your capacity as a shareholder whose shares have been registered as "bearer securities", you are informed that a meeting will be convened via an initial notification in the form of a preliminary notice published in the Bulletin des Annonces Légales Obligatoires (BALO - Bulletin of Compulsory Legal Notices) at least 35 trading days before the chosen date. A notice to attend is then published 15 days before the date of the Meeting in an official journal (the Journal Spécial des Sociétés as far as BNP Paribas is concerned) and once again in the BALO.
If a second notification is needed, listed issuers are required, at least six days before the new date fixed for the meeting, to publish a new notice to attend, in the BALO and in an official journal.
In addition to these legal requirements, our Company:
- publishes statements in different financial newspapers or magazines describing the nature of the meeting and the resolutions included in the agenda,
- mails a notice or a letter to each bearer shareholder owning at least a certain number of shares, in order to inform them of the main characteristics of the meeting,
- and places in its branch offices, one month before the second date fixed for the Annual General Meeting, an advertisement indicating the time and place of the meeting.
If you have recorded your shares as "registered shares" at least one month before the date of the Annual General Meeting, you will automatically receive a notice to attend, including the meeting's agenda, its draft resolutions, as well as an application form for an admittance card and the form for voting by proxy.
In the case of a second notification, you will receive a letter of postponment, informing you of the new date fixed for the Meeting.
What are the different kinds of meetings ?
The Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting is held annually in order to present detailed information about the company's performance. The meeting approves the accounts of the previous financial period, fixes the dividend and its conditions of payment. It appoints, re-elects and removes from office the company's directors and statutory auditors and, if necessary, ratifies the co-optations of directors made by the Board. The decisions must be approved by the simple majority of the shareholders present or represented.
The Extraordinary General Meeting
The Extraordinary General Meeting is convened whenever decisions involving a change in the articles of incorporation and, notably, a capital increase or reduction must be made. The decisions must be approved by a two-third majority of the shareholders present or represented.
The Combined Annual General Meeting
This meeting combines both the Annual and the Extraordinary General Meetings at the same date, with the same notification.