Overview
This article outlines the disclosure requirements for French Takeovers and explains how the platform manages position anchoring for issuers listed on the French Takeover Panel.
It details the specific disclosure thresholds monitored by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and describes how automated rules evaluate daily holdings and historical anchor points.
French Takeover Disclosure Thresholds
Under French Takeover regulations, market participants must disclose daily transactions to the French Takeover Panel if they hold positions on their own or in concert across three distinct thresholds:
Holding at least 5% of the total shares or voting rights in the target company.
Acquiring 1% or more of the target company's shares since the beginning of the pre-offer period.
Increasing a holding by 2% or more since the start of the pre-offer period (or the offer period, if preceded by a pre-offer period). Additionally, any entity holding at least 5% of shares or voting rights that increases its holding during the pre-offer period must report its intended objectives regarding the ongoing offer to the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF).
Position Anchoring Rules
To accurately evaluate the 1% and 2% change thresholds, the platform requires an anchor point to determine your holding percentage as of the date a French Takeover becomes effective for a specific issuer.
The system uses two automated rules to calculate daily holdings and anchor points:
The Takeover: France - Shares/Voting - Daily Results rule calculates daily holdings for issuers on the French Takeover Panel that are currently active. It also monitors securities where the field
CountryOfRCARegulatedMarkets="FR"is coded, which serves as a proxy for securities that could be on the takeover panel, but are added later and backdated.The Takeover: France - Shares/Voting - Lookup rule uses the effective date from the French Takeover Regulatory Data set to determine the anchor point of your holdings (as evaluated by the first rule) in an issuer on the date the takeover panel makes the issuer effective.
Handling Backdated Issuers
If the French Takeover Panel lists an issuer after its effective date and backdates the entry, the daily rule may not have evaluated that issuer on its actual effective date. In this scenario, the rules engine conservatively defaults the anchor position to 0%. Consequently, any existing holding of 1% or 2% is treated as a full 1% or 2% increase, respectively.
To update an anchor position with its actual historical value after a backdated issuer is identified, re-run your data file for that specific NAVDate and all subsequent NAVDates.