FRANCE: AMF Announces Amendment to the General Regulation

Wednesday April 17 2024

On 17^th April 2024, the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) Board decided to abolish the obligation to include a retail tranche for companies applying for admission of their shares to trading on the Euronext Paris regulated market in the context of an initial public offering (IPO).

It is recalled that this obligation derives from Article 315-6 of the AMF General Regulation which stipulates that, in the context of an IPO, the lead manager shall do its upmost to ensure that applications from individual investors are satisfied to a significant extent. This objective is deemed to be met when a minimum of 10% is placed with retail investors.

This obligation is particularly burdensome for issuers wishing to list on the Paris Regulated Market, as it requires them to offer to the public for at least six business days and by making the operation more complex to put together. A number of applicants for listing on the Euronext Paris regulated market have been complaining about this for several years.

As a result of this specific French regulatory constraint, there is a risk that IPO projects planned for Paris will be carried out on foreign financial markets, thereby depriving retail investors of investment opportunities on the Euronext Paris market.

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