(Issuance of shares to be paid up by capitalising income, retained earnings or additional paid-in capital)
The Extraordinary General Meeting, having reviewed the report of the Board of Directors:
- grants the Board of Directors authorisation to increase the share capital, on one or more occasions, within the limit of a maximum par value of EUR 1 billion by capitalising income, retained earnings or additional paid-in capital, successively or simultaneously, by creating and allocating ordinary shares free of charge, by increasing the par value of shares or by a combination of these two methods;
- resolves that any rights to fractions of shares will be non-transferable and the corresponding shares will be sold; proceeds from the sale will be allocated to the holders of rights to fractions of shares, at the latest 30 days following the date on which the whole number of shares to which they are entitled are recorded in their share account;
- resolves that the Board of Directors will have full powers to determine, where necessary, the issue dates, terms and conditions, set the number of shares to be issued and, more generally, take all the necessary steps to ensure the smooth completion of the issue, complete all the necessary acts and formalities to effect the corresponding capital increase(s) and make the correlative amendments to the Articles of Association, and that it may sub-delegate such powers to the Chief Executive Officer or, with the latter's consent, to one or more Chief Operating Officers, under the conditions set by law;
- resolves, lastly, that this authorisation cancels and replaces the unused portion of any earlier authorisations to the same effect.
The powers thus granted to the Board of Directors will be valid for a period of 26 months from the date of this Meeting.
Presentation of the resolution
In the nineteenth resolution, the Board of Directors is authorised to increase the share capital by capitalising retained earnings, within the limit of a maximum par value of EUR 1 billion. This will lead to the creation and allocation of bonus shares and/or to an increase in the par value of existing shares.