Strelia M&A Series May 2020 - Playing Chess When Creating Share Classes

Creating share classes allows a company to distinguish the rights of its shareholders. This is common in Belgian Corporate Law. The new Belgian Code of Companies and Associations (BCCA) defines a share class as a series of shares whereby the rights that are attached to them are different to the rights that are attached to other series of shares issued by the same company. Some examples are: shares with multiple voting rights, shares with varying rights to dividends or liquidation proceeds, shares with varying transfer modalities attached to them, shares with different rights as regards nominating candidates for the board. The differences in the rights attached to share classes can affect corporate strategies. This means the strategy considered by shareholders in various stages of a company's decision-making can significantly impact the decision's outcome, which in turn can affect the short- or long-term plans and goals of the company. In this Strelia M&A Series, we will