FranceAntitrust/Competition Law
As a general rule, French company law is more institutional than contractual; consequently many techniques employed in the United States are illegal in France (companies buying back their own shares, golden parachutes, pension parachutes, etc.). This does not mean that a potential target in France is deprived of anti-take-over defences. It is in a future bidder's interest to find out what they may be by consulting the target's articles of association and by-laws, resolutions of recent shareholders' meetings and the publications of the CBV (or its operational arm, the Societe de Bourses Francaises, "SBF").
Studying the articles of association and by-laws of a company can be very instructive because defensive measures, some of which can be extremely effective, may have been inserted to protect the company from unwelcome bids. Certain clauses are intended to enable the company to track its shareholders better and in particular to detect sudden increases in shareholdings. Thus,
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