Prospectus • Jan 2, 2025
Prospectus
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The offer and the draft response document remain subject to review by the Autorité des marchés financiers.
Translation for information purposes only. In case of discrepancy between the French and English version, the French version shall prevail.

This press release was prepared by Neoen and issued on 2 January 2025 pursuant to Article 231- 26 of the French stock market authority (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) general regulation (the "AMF").
The proposed tender offer, the draft offer document and the draft response document remain subject to review by the AMF.
In accordance with Articles L. 433-4 III of the French Monetary and Financial Code and 237-1 et seq of the AMF General Regulation, in the event that the number of Shares not tendered to the Offer by the minority shareholders of the Company (excluding treasury Shares held by the Company and Shares covered by Liquidity Agreements) does not represent more than 10% of the share capital and voting rights of the Company following the Offer, the Offeror intends to implement, at the latest within three (3) months following the closing of the Offer, a Squeeze-Out procedure in order to transfer the Shares not tendered to the Offer (excluding treasury Shares held by the Company and Shares covered by Liquidity Agreements, but including the PEE Unavailable Shares) in exchange for compensation equal to the Offer Price per Share. The implementation of this procedure will result in the delisting of the Shares from Euronext Paris.
In addition, in the event that the number of Shares not tendered to the Offer by the minority shareholders of the Company (excluding treasury Shares held by the Company and Shares covered by Liquidity Agreements) and the number of Shares that may be issued following the conversion of the OCEANEs not tendered in the Offer do not represent more than 10% of the sum of the existing Shares and the Shares that may be issued as a result of the conversion of the OCEANEs following the Offer1, the Offeror also intends to implement, at the latest within three (3) months following the closing of the Offer, in accordance with Articles L. 433-4 III of the French Monetary and Financial Code and 237-1 et seq of the AMF General Regulation, a Squeeze-Out procedure in order to transfer the OCEANEs not tendered to the Offer in exchange for compensation equal to the Offer Price per 2020 OCEANE and the Offer Price per 2022 OCEANE, as applicable. The implementation of this procedure will result in the delisting of the OCEANEs from Euronext Access.
This press release shall be read jointly with all other published documents relating to the Offer. In particular, in accordance with Article 231-28 of the AMF General Regulation, information relating in particular to the legal, financial and accounting characteristics of the Offeror will be the subject of a specific document filed with the AMF and made available to the public in a manner intended to ensure full and effective disclosure, no later than the day prior to the opening of the Offer.
A press release will be issued no later than the day prior to the opening of the Offer, informing the public of the availability of these documents.
The draft response document filed with the AMF on 2 January 2025 (the "Draft Response Document") is available on the websites of Neoen (www.neoen.com) and of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and may be obtained free of charge at the registered office of Neoen, 22 rue Bayard, 75008 Paris, France.
Pursuant to Title III of Book II and more specifically Articles 233-1, 2° and 234-2 et seq. of the AMF General Regulation, Brookfield Renewable Holdings SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée
1 This conversion would be done on the basis of the adjusted conversion/exchange ratios, as determined in Section Error! Reference source not found. of the Draft Response Document.
with a share capital of 1,000 euros, having its registered office at 39 rue de Courcelles, 75008 Paris, France registered with the Paris Trade and Companies Registry (Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés) under number 928 680 024 ("Brookfield Renewable Holdings" or the "Offeror") irrevocably offers to all shareholders of Neoen S.A., a public limited company (société anonyme) with a board of directors and a share capital of 305,697,548 euros, having its registered office at 22 rue Bayard, 75008 Paris, registered with the Paris Trade and Companies Registry under number 508 320 017 ("Neoen" or the "Company", and together with its directly- or indirectly-owned subsidiaries, the "Group"), and to all holders of Neoen bonds convertible into new ordinary shares and/or exchangeable for existing ordinary shares of the Company issued by the Company on 2 June 2020 (the "2020 OCEANEs") and of Neoen bonds convertible into new ordinary shares and/or exchangeable for existing ordinary shares of the Company issued by the Company on 14 September 2022 (the "2022 OCEANEs" and, together with the 2020 OCEANEs, the "OCEANEs"), to acquire, in cash:
that the Offeror does not hold (subject to the exceptions set out below), directly or indirectly, at the price of:
as part of a simplified mandatory tender offer, the terms and conditions of which are described hereafter (the "Offer") and which may be followed, if all conditions are met, by a squeeze-out procedure for the Shares and/or OCEANEs pursuant to the provisions of Articles 237-1 to 237- 10 of the AMF General Regulation (the "Squeeze-Out").
The Offer results from the completion of the Block Trade Acquisition (which is described in Section Error! Reference source not found.).
As of the date of this Draft Response Document2 , Brookfield Renewable Holdings holds:
In total, the Offeror holds, directly and indirectly, alone and in concert, and by assimilation, 82,250,985 Shares (i.e. 53.81% of the share capital and theoretical voting rights of the Company)5 .
2 On the basis of share capital of the Company as of 30 November 2024, composed of 152,848,774 Shares representing as many theoretical voting rights, in accordance with the provisions of Article 223-11 of the AMF's General Regulation.
3 It should be noted that these 2024 Free Shares are still under vesting and are not taken into account in the total of 82,250,985 Shares held directly and indirectly, alone and in concert, by the Offeror.
4 It should be noted that these 2024 Free Shares are still under vesting and are not taken into account in the total of 82,250,985 Shares held directly and indirectly, alone and in concert, by the Offeror.
5 See footnote 2.
The Offeror does not hold, directly and indirectly, alone and in concert, or by assimilation, any OCEANEs.
To the extent that, because of the Block Trade Acquisition, the Offeror has crossed the threshold of 30% of the Company's share capital and voting rights, the Offer is mandatory pursuant to the provisions of Article L. 433-3, I of the French Monetary and Financial Code and Article 234-2 of the AMF General Regulation.
In accordance with the provisions of article 231-6 of the AMF General Regulation, the Offer targets:
i.e., to the knowledge of the Company at the date of the Draft Response Document, a maximum number of Shares targeted by the Offer equal to 82,840,153; and
6 The vesting period of the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will end on 28 February 2025. Such 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will thus become available on 3 March 2025. As at the date of the Draft Offer Document, the closing date of the Offer has been set on 27 February 2025. In the event such closing date is postponed on or after 3 March 2025, the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will no longer be considered as Unavailable Free Shares and will be able to be tendered in the Offer. It is further specified that, if the conditions are met, the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares available on 3 March 2025 will be targeted by the Squeeze-Out.
7 Based on the following adjusted conversion ratio (NCER): 1.208.
8 Based on the following adjusted conversion ratio (NCER): 2,506.608.
(ii) all outstanding OCEANEs that are not held by the Offeror, i.e. to the knowledge of the Company at the date of the Draft Response Document, 3,679,653 2020 OCEANEs and 3,000 2022 OCEANEs.
Among the Shares covered by the Offer, the 283.581 9 Unavailable PEE Shares (as defined below) cannot be tendered into the Offer (except in the case of an early release in accordance with applicable laws and regulation). However, Unavailable PEE Shares will be targeted by the Squeeze-Out, if applicable.
It is specified that the Offer does not target:
9 Number of Unavailable PEE Shares as at 30 December 2024.
10 It is specified that part of the treasury shares will be allocated to the beneficiaries of the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares.
11 The vesting period of the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will end on 28 February 2025. Such 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will thus become available on 3 March 2025. As at the date of the Draft Offer Document, the closing date of the Offer has been set on 27 February 2025. In the event such closing date is postponed on or after 3 March 2025, the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will no longer be considered as Unavailable Free Shares and will be able to be tendered in the Offer. It is further specified that, if the conditions are met, the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares available on 3 March 2025 will be targeted by the Squeeze-Out.
(together, the "Excluded Shares").
As a result of the indicative timetable of the Offer provided in Section Error! Reference source n ot found., the 105,416 2023 Accelerated Free Shares (as defined below) being vested on 28 February 2025, they cannot be tendered into the Offer18. Such 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will however be covered by the Squeeze-Out, if applicable.
12 Cartusia SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée having its registered office at 59, boulevard d'Inkermann, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, registered with the Nanterre Trade and Companies Registry (Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés) under number 878 585 884.
13 Equinox SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée having its registered office at 59, boulevard d'Inkermann, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, registered with the Nanterre Trade and Companies Registry (Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés) under number 902 145 036.
14 Kampen SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée having its registered office at 59, boulevard d'Inkermann, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, registered with the Nanterre Trade and Companies Registry (Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés) under number 902 144 930.
15 Hilaris SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée having its registered office at 59, boulevard d'Inkermann, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, registered with the Nanterre Trade and Companies Registry (Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés) under number 902 144 807.
16 Palancia SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée having its registered office at 59, boulevard d'Inkermann, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, registered with the Nanterre Trade and Companies Registry (Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés) under number 902 144 658.
17 The RD Shares That May Be Tendered for which Mr. Romain Desrousseaux has decided to make a contribution in kind before the closing of the Offer will not be subject to the Squeeze-Out, it being specified that (i) in the absence of such a decision before the closing of the Offer, all the RD Shares That May Be Tendered will be included in the Squeeze-Out, (ii) in the event that the decision to make the contribution in kind relates to only a portion of the RD Shares That May Be Tendered, the balance of these will be subject to the Squeeze-Out. In any event, it is specified that the available Shares held by Mr. Romain Desrousseaux (other than the RD Shares That May Be Tendered, representing 286.355 Shares on the date of the Draft Offer Document) are subject to the Offer and will be tendered by Mr. Romain Desrousseaux to the Offer.
18 The vesting period of the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will end on 28 February 2025. Such 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will thus become available on 3 March 2025. As at the date of the Draft Offer Document, the closing date of the Offer has been set on 27 February 2025. In the event such closing date is postponed on or after 3 March 2025, the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares will no longer be considered as Unavailable Free Shares and will be able
As at the date of the Draft Response Document, there are no other equity securities or other financial instruments issued by the Company or rights conferred by the Company that may give access, immediately or in the future, to the share capital or voting rights of the Company, other than the existing Shares and the OCEANEs described in Section Error! Reference source not f ound. and the Free Shares described in Section Error! Reference source not found..
The Draft Offer Document indicates that the Offeror intends to conduct the Offer, which will be followed, if conditions are met, by a Squeeze-Out procedure pursuant to Articles L. 433-4 II and L. 433-4 III of the French Monetary and Financial Code and 237-1 et seq. of the AMF General Regulation, following the simplified procedure in accordance with the provisions of Article 233-1 et seq. of the AMF General Regulation.
The duration of the Offer will be 21 Trading Days19 .
In accordance with the provisions of Article 231-13 of the AMF General Regulation, BNP Paribas and Société Générale (together, the "Presenting Banks"), as presenting banks of the Offer, have filed on behalf of the Offeror, the draft Offer and the Draft Offer Document with the AMF on 2 January 2025, it being specified that only Société Générale guarantees the content and the irrevocable nature of the commitments made by the Offeror in connection with the Offer
In accordance with the provisions of Articles 231-13 and 231-18 of the AMF General Regulation, the draft Offer was filed on 2 January 2025 with the AMF by the Presenting Banks, acting in the name and on behalf of the Offeror. On the same day, the AMF published a notice of filing relating to the Draft Offer Document on its website (www.amf-france.org).
In accordance with Articles 233-1 et seq. of the AMF General Regulation, the Offer will be implemented in accordance with the simplified tender offer procedure. The attention of the shareholders and holders of the Company's OCEANEs is drawn to the fact that, as the Offer is being made under the simplified procedure, it will not be reopened following the publication of the result of the Offer.
The Offeror irrevocably undertakes to the Company's shareholders and holders of OCEANEs to acquire, all the Shares and OCEANEs that will be tendered in the Offer during a period of 21 Trading Days at the price of:
to be tendered in the Offer. It is further specified that, if the conditions are met, the 2023 Accelerated Free Shares available on 3 March 2025 will be targeted by the Squeeze-Out.
19 "Trading Day" for the purposes hereof being a trading day on Euronext Paris. It is being specified that the Offer will be opened in the United States of America and must thus last at least 20 US business days, 17 February 2025 being a bank holiday in the United States of America.
− EUR 101,382.00 per 2022 OCEANE.
Société Générale, guarantees the content and the irrevocable nature of the undertakings made by the Offeror as part of the Offer in accordance with the provisions of Article 231-13 of the AMF General Regulation.
The characteristics of the Offer (including the terms of the Offer, the procedure for tendering in the Offer, the indicative timetable of the Offer and the Offer restrictions outside of France) are detailed in Section 2 of the Draft Response Document and in Section 2 of the Draft Offer Document.
The agreements likely to have an impact on the assessment or outcome of the Offer are described in Section 7 of the Draft Response Document and in Section 1.3 of the Draft Offer Document.
The factors that may have an impact in the event of a public offer are described in Section 8 of the Draft Response Document.
As at the date of the Draft Response Document, the board of directors of the Company is composed of the following members:
On 26 December 2024, the board of directors, composed of the following members, issued the reasoned opinion set out in full below:
Members of the board of directors having participated in the reasoned opinion:
Helen Lee Bouygues
Sixto, represented by Bertrand Dumazy
Ms. Stéphanie Levant was absent and excused. Mr. Jacques Veyrat also attended the meeting in his capacity of censor.
"The Chairman notes that at its meeting on April 12, 2024, the Board of Directors appointed Finexsi - Expert & Conseil Financier, represented by Mr. Olivier Péronnet and Mr. Maxime Rogeon, as Independent Expert in accordance with Article 261-1, I, 1°, 2°, 4° and 5° and II of the AMF General Regulations (the "Independent Expert").
The Chairman reminds that the Independent Expert is responsible for drawing up a report on the financial terms of the Offer, in particular as the Company will, subject to the completion of the Block Trade Acquisition, be controlled by the initiator of the Offer, and that Brookfield intends to implement a squeeze-out procedure at the end of the Offer.
The Chairman recalls that at its meeting of March 30, 2024, the Board of Directors ratified and formally approved the formation of the Ad Hoc Committee, comprising Helen Lee Bouygues, Sixto, represented by Bertrand Dumazy, and FSP, represented by Christophe Gégout, all of whom are independent members of the Board of Directors. The Ad Hoc Committee is responsible for preparing the draft reasoned opinion to be issued by the Board of Directors in connection with the Offer.
Sixto, represented by Mr Bertrand Dumazy, in its capacity as Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, then reports on its mission and briefly summarizes the work carried out in this context:
The ad hoc Committee has met on numerous occasions since it was informed of the proposed Transaction, and has been kept informed of the various stages and progress of the Transaction at regular meetings of the Company's Board of Directors.
In particular, the ad hoc Committee has met and discussed with the Independent Expert on numerous occasions since it was informed of the proposed Transaction, including 4 formal meetings:
Details of the interactions between the members of the Ad Hoc Committee and the Independent Expert are set out in full in the expert report by Finexsi.
Throughout this period, the Ad Hoc Committee ensured that the Independent Expert had in his possession all the information he considered necessary for the performance of his mission, and that he was in a position to carry out his work under satisfactory conditions.
The Chairman reminds that the conclusions of the Independent Expert, reproduced below, were made available to the members of the board of directors:
The present Simplified Public Tender Offer, which may be followed by a Squeeze-Out by the Offeror, is made to all shareholders at the Offer price of €39.85 per share (ex-dividend).
That Offer price corresponds to the price arising from the share purchase agreement formed by the Offeror with Impala, Fonds Stratégique de Participations managed by ISALT, Cartusia, Xavier Barbaro and other shareholders for the purchase of the Controlling Block, which had not been completed by the time the present report was submitted.
The Offer price shows a 32.3% premium to the central value obtained using the DCF method, which we regard as the most appropriate method. That value is based on the "standalone" financial trajectory provided by Management and extrapolated until the end of the facilities' operational lives. That trajectory reflects Management's growth ambitions until 2030E, with an installed capacity target of 15 GW financed without any new fund-raising, as disclosed to the market. It is based on Management's ability to continue developing its portfolio at a sustained pace without any deterioration in financial performance, and factors in the full effect of the Company's strategy implemented and disclosed to the market. Accordingly, based on our primary valuation method, shareholders are getting an Offer price that fully values Neoen's shares.
The Offer provides immediate liquidity to Neoen shareholders who so wish, along with a premium of 27.4% over the last quoted price preceding the announcement of the Offer and 38.7% to the average share price during the 60 days preceding the announcement.
As regards the listed peers comparison method, presented as a secondary method, the Offer price shows premiums of 60.6% and 65.0% to the resulting range of values, although readers are reminded that the results of this method may be less relevant because of the limited comparability of the companies making up the sample.
As regards the comparable transactions method, the Offer price shows a premium of between 20.4% and 28.3%. Like the listed peers method, this is presented as a secondary method.
References to price targets published by analysts before the Offer was announced, also presented as a secondary method, show premiums ranging from 5.3% to 52.7%.
Concerning holders of OCEANE 2020 bonds
The Offer also covers all the 2020 and 2022 OCEANE bonds issued by Neoen.
The Offer price of the 2020 OCEANEs, i.e. €48.14 per OCEANE determined on the assumption of an opening of the Offer on January 30, 2025, corresponds to the adjusted contractual conversion value used as principal. This
results from taking into account the Offer price of the shares in application of the conversion formula provided for in the terms and conditions of the OCEANEs in the event of a public offer.
We note that the Offer price of the 2020 OCEANEs shows premiums on all the other main criteria, namely (i) a 3.7% premium on the early redemption clause in the event of a change of control, (ii) a 1.8% premium on the last trading price before the announcement of the Offer and (iii) a 5.1% premium on the central value of the intrinsic method.
The Offer also relates to all of the 2020 and 2022 OCEANEs issued by Neoen.
The Offer price for the 2020 OCEANEs, i.e. €48.14 per OCEANE assuming the Offer opens on January 30, 2025, corresponds to the contractual adjusted conversion value, which is our primary valuation method. That value results from taking into account the Offer price for Neoen's shares and applying the conversion formula provided for in the terms and conditions of the OCEANEs in the event of a public offer.
We note that the Offer price for the 2020 OCEANEs shows premiums relative to the values obtained using all other primary methods, i.e. (i) a premium of 3.7% to the value based on the clause provided for early redemption in the event of a change of control, (ii) a premium of 1.8% to the last market price before the Offer was announced and (iii) a premium of 5.1% to the central value of the intrinsic method.
The Offer price for the 2022 OCEANEs, i.e. €101,382 per OCEANE assuming the Offer opens on January 30, 2025, corresponds to the value obtained by applying the clause providing for early redemption in the event of a change of control, included in the terms and conditions of the OCEANEs, the amount of which is higher than the contractual adjusted conversion value (€99,888 per 2022 OCEANE). We used both of these two approaches as primary valuation methods.
We note that the Offer price for the 2022 OCEANEs shows premiums relative to the values obtained using the other primary methods, i.e. (i) a premium of 3.3% to the last market price before the Offer was announced and (ii) a premium of 10.3% to the central value of the intrinsic method.
We examined agreements that could materially influence the assessment or outcome of the Offer, as presented in the draft offer document, i.e. (i) Bpifrance's undertaking to tender shares to the offer, (ii) the liquidity agreement, (iii) the cash-based retention plan, (iv) the retention share plan, (v) Romain Desrousseaux's liquidity agreement, (vi) Xavier Barbaro's liquidity agreement, (vii) Xavier Barbaro's cash-based retention plan, (viii) the Synthetic Share Plan, (ix) the Shareholders' Agreement and (x) reinvestments by Xavier Barbaro and Romain Desrousseaux. These agreements do not contain any provision that could call into question, in our view, the fairness of the Offer from the financial point of view.
As a result, as of the date of the present report, our opinion is that the Offer price of €39.85 (ex-dividend) per share, €48.14 per 2020 OCEANE and €101,382 per 2022 OCEANE is fair 2022 OCEANEs shows premiums relative to the values obtained using the other primary methods, i.e. (i) a premium of 3.3% to the last market price before the Offer was announced and (ii) a premium of 10.3% to the
central value of the intrinsic method of view for holders of Neoen's shares and 2020 and 2022 OCEANEs, including in the event of a Squeeze-Out."
The Chairman gives the floor to directors to ask questions or make comments.
The Chairman invited Sixto, represented by Mr Bertrand Dumazy, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, to present the conclusions of the Ad Hoc Committee and the draft reasoned opinion as proposed to the Board of Directors:
The Ad Hoc Committee proposed the following reasoned opinion:
The Ad Hoc Committee notes that the Offeror's intentions are described in paragraphs 1.2.1 to 1.2.8 of the draft offer document as prepared by the Offeror as of the date hereof (the "Draft Offer Document"). In particular, it is stated that the Offeror's intention is "to operate Neoen as a stand-alone holding company led by the current management team, with its own balance sheet and budget, while benefiting from the full support of Brookfield's global renewable energy and transition platform and asset management capabilities"
The Ad Hoc Committee thus notes that the Offer will enable the Company to be backed by a controlling shareholder with substantial financial resources, whose project is in line with the Company's strategy. The Ad Hoc Committee notes that the Offeror believes that it is particularly well positioned to help the Company take the next step in its growth, from a commercial and financial point of view
The Offer is in line with the strategy pursued by the management team with regard to countries and technologies, as well as the general approach to contracting. As part of this strategy, the Offeror intends to pursue the disposal of assets in non-core jurisdictions in Africa and Latin America, in order to allocate more resources and focus on core assets and regions where the Offeror sees the greatest potential for value creation. Any expansion beyond the current footprint would be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Finally, the Offeror intends to maintain the current farm-down strategy while retaining the necessary flexibility and to pursue farm-downs on the Company's larger portfolios and assets on a regional basis. The amount of farm-downs will be assessed on the basis of the Company's future capital requirements to finance growth, among other considerations.
The Offeror also intends to support the Company's debt strategy in the debt capital markets, and to gradually expand the Company's financing mechanisms as its business grows.
The Ad Hoc Committee notes that the Offeror does not intend to merge with the Company, but that certain reorganization operations could be envisaged.
In addition, the Ad Hoc committee notes that in the event of implementation of the Squeeze Out and delisting of the Company, a change in the Company's current corporate form may be envisaged.
The Ad hoc Committee notes that the Offeror considers that these reorganizations would have no impact on the Company's operations or workforce. The relevant staff representative bodies would be informed and/or consulted, as required, in accordance with applicable laws.
Lastly, the Ad Hoc Committee notes that, in connection with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's approval of the Block Trade Acquisition, the Company has decided to divest its entire portfolio of assets and projects in the State of Victoria, Australia, comprising 652 MW of assets in operation and 2.8 GW of projects under development, to HMC Capital for AUD 950 million. An agreement was signed on December 4,
2024 between the Company and HMC Capital, with a target completion date of July 1,, 2025, subject to completion of the Block Trade Acquisition.
Having considered the above, the Ad Hoc Committee confirms the interest of the Offer for the Company.
Regarding the interest of the Offer for employees
The Offeror indicated in the Draft Offer Document (paragraph 1.2.2) that "the Offer is part of an ongoing growth strategy with respect to Neoen and should not have any particular impact on the Group's workforce and human resources management policies, nor on the working conditions of employees or their collective or individual status ". Furthermore, the Offeror has indicated that it is "not considering any substantial changes in the way and the locations where the Group operates".
It should be noted that the applicable procedures for informing and consulting the Company's employee representative bodies concerning the disposal of the Block have been followed.
The social and economic committee of the Company (CSE), in its deliberation of June 17, 2024, issued a favorable with reserve (avis favorable avec réserve) regarding the proposed Block Trade Acquisition.
It should be noted that the Company has allocated free shares (the "Free Shares") to employees and executives of the Neoen group under several free share plans, and that employees also hold shares in the Company under company savings plans (Plan d'Epargne Entreprise).
In the context of the Offer, the Offeror proposed to the beneficiaries and holders of Free Shares which could not be tendered to the Offer or to the Squeeze Out (the "Unavailable Shares") to enter into commitments to purchase and sell their Unavailable Shares in order to enable them to benefit from a cash liquidity for these Unavailable Shares (the "Liquidity Agreements")
Having considered the above, the Ad Hoc Committee confirms the interest of the Offer for the employees.
Regarding the Offer Price and the interest of the Offer for the Company's shareholders and holders of the 2020 and 2022 OCEANEs
The Committee notes that :
raising, as disclosed to the market. It is based on Management's ability to continue developing its portfolio at a sustained pace without any deterioration in financial performance, and factors in the full effect of the Company's strategy implemented and disclosed to the market. Accordingly, based on our primary valuation method, shareholders are getting an Offer price that fully values Neoen's shares;
3.7% to the value based on the clause provided for early redemption in the event of a change of control, (ii) a premium of 1.8% to the last market price before the Offer was announced and (iii) a premium of 5.1% to the central value of the intrinsic method.
Finexsi received a letter from Millennium International Management LP ("Millennium"), holder of 2020 and 2022 OCEANEs, dated October 17, 2024. In this letter, Millennium states that the prices of the OCEANEs "do not represent the fair value of the OCEANEs 2020 and OCEANEs 2022", and determines a valuation range based on two optional models from Bloomberg. Millennium thus extrapolates values of between €46.6 and €51.0 for the OCEANEs 2020 and between €98,600 and €108,300 for the OCEANEs 2022. Finexsi wrote to Millennium to obtain further details on the valuation parameters used, which were provided in December. Finexsi took into account and examined the information provided by Millennium. Finexsi's conclusions show that the OCEANE bondholder did not implement a multi-criteria valuation approach, and only considered an optional model, unlike their valuation approach. Its analysis of the various points raised by Millennium does not therefore lead to change its assessment of the Offer price of €48.14 for the 2020 OCEANEs and €101,382 for the 2022 OCEANEs.
It should be noted that the Independent Expert has also reviewed the agreements that could have a significant influence on the assessment or outcome of the Offer, as presented in the draft offer document, namely (i) the Bpifrance undertaking to tender, (ii) the liquidity contract, (iii) the cash retention plan, (iv) the retention share plan, (v) Mr. Romain Desrousseaux's liquidity contract, (vi) Mr. Xavier Barbaro's liquidity contract, (vii) Mr. Xavier Barbaro's cash retention plan, (viii) the synthetical share plan, (ix) the shareholders' agreement and (x) Mr. Xavier Barbaro's and Mr. Romain Desrousseaux's reinvestment agreements. In the Independent Expert's opinion, this examination did not reveal any provision that would call into question the fairness of the Offer from a financial point of view.
The Ad Hoc Committee therefore considers that the Offer will enable the Company's minority shareholders and holders of OCEANEs to obtain immediate and full liquidity for their Shares and OCEANEs, under price conditions considered fair by the Independent Expert, including in the event of implementation of the squeeze-out. In addition, the Committee notes that :
In accordance with the terms and conditions of the OCEANEs, the Company may, at its discretion and at any time, redeem at par plus accrued interest all of the relevant outstanding OCEANEs, if they represent less than 15% of the number of OCEANEs 2020 issued under the OCEANEs 2020 and if they represent less than 20% of the number of OCEANEs 2022 issued under the OCEANEs 2022.
In the event that the conditions required to implement a Squeeze-Out for the Shares are met, but the conditions required to implement a squeeze-out for the OCEANEs are not met, the Initiator intends to implement a squeeze-out on the shares under the conditions described above, subject to the Company being able to exercise the early redemption option in due course (it being specified that the Initiator reserves the right to waive this condition). The implementation of this procedure will result in the delisting of the Shares from Euronext Paris.
Lastly, the Committee notes that the Offeror also intends to propose to the Company's 2025 Annual General Meeting, to be held before June 30, 2025, to approve the deletion of the double voting rights attached to shares registered in "pure" registered form for more than two years (previously approved in 2023 and provided for in article 11 of the Company's bylaws).
Having considered the above, the Ad Hoc Committee confirms the interest of the Offer for the shareholders of the Company and the holders of OCEANEs 2020 and 2022.
The Ad Hoc Committee, at the end of its mission and after having reviewed all the information made available to its members, in particular (i) the elements of assessment of the Offer Price included in the Draft Offer Document, (ii) the objectives and intentions expressed by the Offeror in the Draft Offer Document, (iii) the report of the Independent Expert :
In the light of the above, discussions ensued.
In particular, the Chairman is asking the directors to confirm whether or not they intend to tender all or some of the Company shares they hold to the Offer:
| Name | Function | Number of Shares held at the date of the reasoned opinion |
Intention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xavier Barbaro | Chairman of the board of directors |
155,516 | Shares sold as part of the Block Trade Acquisition. Unavailable Shares are subject to a Liquidity Agreement. |
| Helen Lee Bouygues | Director | 1,632 | Tender to the Offer |
| Simon Veyrat | Director | 0 | N/A |
| Stéphanie Levan | Director | 1,450 | Tender to the Offer |
| Fonds Stratégique de Participations |
Director | 10,593,898 | Shares to be sold in the context of the Block trade Acquisition. |
| Name | Function | Number of Shares held at the date of the reasoned opinion |
Intention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bpifrance Investissements | Director | 6,674,470 | Tender the the Offer in the context of a Tender Undertaking dated 24 June 2024. |
| Sixto | Director | 1,350 | Tender to the Offer |
| Jacques Veyrat | Censor | 0 | N/A |
After discussion of the draft Offer, the Board of Directors, in view of the information submitted, and in particular (i) the objectives and intentions expressed by Brookfield, (ii) the valuation elements prepared by the presenting institutions and included in the Offeror's Draft Offer Document, (iii) the conclusions of the Independent Expert's report on the financial conditions of the Offer and the Squeeze-Out, (iv) the Offeror's draft offer document and the Company's draft reply document, and (v) the conclusions of the Ad Hoc Committee's review, unanimously, including the members participating in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee, Mr. Barbaro deferring to the Ad Hoc Committee's opinion:
The members of the Company's board of directors, who have participated in the meeting during which the board of directors issued its reasoned opinion set forth in Section Error! Reference s ource not found. of the Draft Response Document, have expressed the following intentions:
| Name | Function | Number of Shares held at the date of the reasoned opinion |
Intention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xavier Barbaro | Chairman of the board of directors |
155,516 | 113,973 Shares sold as part of the Block Trade Acquisition. The 41,543 Unavailable Shares are subject to a Liquidity Agreement. |
| Helen Lee Bouygues | Director | 1,632 | Tender of 1,632 Shares to the Offer |
| Simon Veyrat | Director | 0 | N/A |
| Stéphanie Levan | Director | 1,450 | Tender of 1,450 Shares to the Offer |
| Fonds Stratégique de Participations |
Director | 10,593,898 | FSP sold all its Shares to the Offeror in the context of the Block Trade Acquisition |
| Bpifrance Investissements | Director | 6,674,470 | Tender to the Offer in the context of a Tender Undertaking dated 24 June 2024 |
| Sixto | Director | 1,350 | Tender of 1,350 Shares to the Offer |
At the date of the Draft Response Document, the Company holds 188,338 of its own Shares.
On 26 December 2024, the board of directors decided unanimously that the treasury Shares shall not be tendered in the Offer.
Pursuant to Articles 261-1, I, 1°, 2° and 4° and II of the AMF General Regulation, Finexsi – Expert & Conseil Financier, represented by Mr. Olivier Péronnet and Mr. Maxime Rogeon, was appointed as an independent expert by the Company's board of directors on April 12, 2024, in order to prepare a report on the financial terms of the Offer and the squeeze-out.
This report, dated 26 December 2024, is reproduced in full in the Draft Response Document and form an integral part of the Draft Response Document.
The conclusions of this report are reproduced in the board of directors reasoned opinioned above.
The other information relating to notably the legal, financial and accounting characteristics of the Company will be filed with the AMF by no later than the day preceding the opening of the Offer. Pursuant to Article 231-28 of the AMF General Regulation, such information will be available on
the websites of the Company (www.neoen.com) and of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) on the day preceding the opening of the Offer and may be obtained free of charge from the registered office of Neoen, 22 rue Bayard, 75008 Paris, France.
This press release has been prepared for information purposes only. This press release does not constitute a public offer (offre au public). Dissemination of this press release, the Offer and its acceptance may be subject to specific regulations or restrictions in some countries. The Offer is not addressed to persons directly or indirectly subject to such restrictions and may not be accepted in any way from a country in which the Offer is subject to such restrictions. This press release shall not be distributed in these countries. Therefore, persons in possession of this press release must inform themselves about and comply with any local restrictions that may apply.
Neoen declines any responsibility resulting from any breach of these restrictions by any person.
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