PARIS (Reuters) -A French appeals court rejected on Tuesday a complaint filed by minority shareholders against the terms of a government buyout of power giant EDF , paving the way for a full nationalisation of the company.
The court of appeals “rejected all of the plaintiffs’ demands,” according to a document summarizing the ruling seen by Reuters.
The head of the association for the defense of minority shareholders, which had filed the complaint saying the offered buyout price of 12 euros per share was too low, declined to comment, saying time was needed to fully understand the decision and possible legal options.
EDF declined to comment.
The government last year launched a buyout for the shares it did not already own in EDF with the aim to delist it, stumping up around 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion) to take full control of the debt-laden group as part of a long-term nuclear energy strategy that includes building at least six new reactors.
The group slumped to a record net loss of 17.9 billion euros in 2022, hammered by an unprecedented number of outages at its reactors.
The French state currently owns 95.82% of the share capital and at least 96.53% of the voting rights of EDF, but the offer was put on hold by the minority shareholders’ lawsuit.
The government has pledged to reopen the tender offer for 10 trading days before initiating squeeze-out proceedings.
(Reporting by America Hernandez, editing by Silvia Aloisi)
