Translation of "actionnaire minoritaire " (French → English) :

Member States may allow the shareholder who is a related party to take part in the vote provided that national law ensures adequate safeguards which apply during the voting process to protect the interests of shareholders who are not related parties, including minority shareholders, by preventing the related-party from approving the transaction despite the opposing opinion of the majority of shareholders which are not related parties or despite the opposing opinion of the majority of the independent directors.

13. Stresses that the mandatory bid rule is the core provision for the protection of minority shareholders, and takes note of the results of the External Study that all Member States allow for exemptions from this rule; understands that these derogations are often used to protect the interests of controlling shareholders (e.g. no real change in control), creditors (e.g. when creditors have granted loans) and other stakeholders (e.g. to balance shareholders’ and other stakeholders’ rights); supports the Commission’s intention to gather additional information with a view to determine whether the widely used derogations are contrary to th ...[+++]e protection of minority shareholders;

- 'squeeze out' and 'sell out' rights - greater flexibility and more viable ownership structure by allowing under certain conditions the majority shareholders to buy out minority shareholders at a fair price and the complementary right of minority shareholders to compel the majority shareholders to buy their shares.

When a majority shareholder acquires such a large stake of shares it has negative impact on the market price of remaining shares and inflicts losses for the minority shareholder, however it is necessary to protect company from launching a complicated procedure to ascertain fair price with regard only to interests of minority shareholder therefore this provision shall be applied only for limited number of cases.

- Taking into account the recommendations of the High Level Group of Company Law Experts, the proposal on take over bids will address the three principal concerns of the European Parliament: the issue of the "level playing field", a definition of an "equitable price" and the possibility for a majority shareholder to buy out a minority shareholder ("squeeze-out").

3. If the law of a Member State to which a merging company is subject provides for a procedure to scrutinise and amend the share-exchange ratio, or a procedure to compensate minority shareholders, without preventing the registration of the merger, such procedures shall only apply if the other merging companies situated in Member States which do not provide for such procedure explicitly accept, when approving the draft terms of the merger in accordance with Article 23(1), the possibility for the shareholders of that merging company to have recourse to such procedure.