Suchergebnisse für clause d’agrément

Sustainable Purpose-Driven Enterprises

Social enterprises (in a broad sense), including those launched by social (or sustainable) entrepreneurs (or Sustainable Purpose-Driven Entities) are important players to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Developing a legal framework that allows them to prosper has been a priority of the European Commission since 2010. These entities have recently been endorsed by the United…

Actions de loyauté : une fausse bonne idée

Over its summer session 2018, the Swiss National Council adopted the possibility for companies limited by shares (sociétés anonymes/Aktiengesellschaften) to include in their articles of association certain financial privileges to the benefit of shareholders registered for at least two consecutive years in the share register (loyalty shares). This article presents the legislative work in progress…

Trois modèles de contrôle des investissements transfrontaliers

The screening of foreign investment has become a growing concern for many countries. In the midst of a trade war between the US and China as well as issues related to state-owned companies’ interference in the EU, it is bound to become a subject of heated debates in Switzerland. As we continue to live through a global pandemic, some countries are seeing themselves lacking or at least vulnerable…

Les clauses statutaires relatives au transfert des actions de la société anonyme

This article deals with the admissibility of statutory acquisition clauses with regard to the right of the free transmissibility of shares (Art. 685 ss of the Swiss Code of Obligations, CO) and the prohibition of additional obligations at shareholders’s cost (Art. 680 CO). In order to resolve this issue, a distinction must be made between statutory acquisition clauses relating to the shares of…

Le droit des sociétés 2019/2020 / Das Gesellschaftsrecht 2019/2020

La décision judiciaire la plus importante de l’année écoulée concerne le droit des groupes de sociétés, à savoir le Cash Pooling, mais cette fois dans le contexte de la responsabilité du conseil d’administration (1.). Un autre arrêt important clarifie l’exercice de la clause échappatoire pour le refus au transfert des actions nominatives liées (2.). La jurisprudence a en outre eu l…

Le droit des sociétés 2017/2018 / Das Gesellschaftsrecht 2017/2018

Au cours de l’année écoulée, en plus du point final porté à l’affaire Sika (1.), un certain nombre de décisions se sont distinguées. Le Tribunal fédéral est revenu sur l’exorbitance des conventions d…

Les sanctions en matière d’obligation d’annonce des actionnaires (art. 697m CO)

The Federal Act of 12 December 2014 on the implementation of the revised recommendations 2012 of the ­Financial Action Task Force introduced in the Code of Obligations new provisions on transparency in force since 1^st of July 2015. Since that date, holders or ­purchasers of bearer shares and the beneficial owner of shares are bound by an obligation to report to the ­company (articles 697i and …

L’affaire Sika : un exemple en faveur d’une approche économique des transferts d’actions soumis à l’agrément de la société

The ongoing litigation between the Swiss company Sika SA and the owners of its Swiss shareholder ­Schenker-Winkler Holding SA over the sale of the shares of the latter to the French group Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, a competitor of Sika SA, has attracted consi­d­erable media and public attention. When completed, this sale will give Compag­nie de Saint-Gobain the effective control over Sika SA…

Gouvernance des sociétés de famille – Quels sont les enjeux ?

The current corporate law revision aims namely at improving good governance rules. In this respect, the preliminary Federal Council draft bill, for which the consultation process was opened back in November 2014, puts forward several measures aiming at strengthening the protection of minority shareholders. The author considers that the existing shortcomings in the governance of private companies…

Développements du droit suisse des OPA

This survey of Swiss takeover law focuses on some of the most interesting recent transactions, which are discussed under three aspects : material and territorial scope of the law ; companies which have opted out of mandatory offer for shareholders who pass the 33⅓ % threshold ; and share buy back programs. We also discuss the controversial issue whether a bidder may subject its offer to a…