Share Management

There are two ways to hold shares in a French listed company: Bearer Shares and Registered Shares.

Shares are categorised as "Bearer Shares" when the name of the owner is not disclosed to the issuing company. However, these shares are not anonymous since they appear in an account managed by a financial intermediary. In France, most shares traded on the Stock Exchange belong to this category.

Shares are categorised as "registered shares" when the name of the shareholder appears in the share register of the company. The use of registered shares makes communication between the company and its registered shareholders easier.

There are two types of registered shares:

  • Managed registered shares – management of the securities account is entrusted to a financial intermediary, -for example, a financial institution chosen by the shareholder, while;
  • Pure registered shares – the shares are entered directly and only in the share register of the issuing company. The issuing company is in charge of the administrative management of the shares and no custodian fees are paid.

NEW: In the case of Axway, SOCIETE GENERALE SECURITIES SERVICES (SGSS) will be in charge of managing Administered Registered Shares from November 28, 2022. The registry transfer is currently in progress.

The holding of pure registered shares allows the shareholder to receive information on Axway (including notices of General Shareholders Meetings). No custodian fees are charged. The dividend is paid by SGSS without any delay.

Drawbacks: In order to buy or sell shares, the shareholder must first ask his bank to transform the shares into bearer shares, as SGSS is not authorized to undertake this type of transaction. If all shares n.a. shareholder's portfolio are registered shares, he receives as many statements as he owns registered shares, which may be burdensome when he files his income tax return.

The shareholder receives regular information on Axway and may place trading orders through his financial institution. He receives only one securities account statement at the time of his income tax return.

Custodian fees apply. The dividend may be paid by the institution managing the securities account after a delay.

To convert their shares to pure registered shares, shareholders must ask their financial institution to transfer their Axway shares to SGSS, which is the account holder for the Axway shares. SGSS will then convert the shares to pure nominative. A transfer fee may be charged by the broker for this transaction.