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Share capital and share ownership
7.7 Share ownership structure as of December 31, 2015 and significant changes over the last three fiscal years
DANONE
REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2015
317
to request the appointment of a member of the Board of Directors
(declaration No. 215C0556).
Finally, MFS indicated to the Company that the number of (gross and
net) voting rights of the Company it holds, is less than the number
of shares it owns, as certain of its clients retain the voting ability
on the shares whose management is assigned to MFS. Thus, as of
December 31, 2015, MFS informed the Company that it held 83,804,278
DANONE shares (approximately 12.8%of the share capital), including
69,417,105 shares (approximately 10.6% of the capital) for which MFS
exercises voting rights and 14,387,173 shares (approximately 2.2%
of the capital) for which MFS clients have retained voting rights.
Other significant changes during the last three
fiscal years
During fiscal years 2013 to 2015, Harris Associates, a US subsidiary
of the Natixis group, increased its stake in the Company's share
capital to 1.7% of the Company's shares as of December 31, 2015.
In 2014, the First Eagle group became a shareholder in the Company
and held 2.3% of the Company's shares as of December 31, 2015.
No statement regarding the crossing of legal thresholds in respect
of the share capital or voting rights of the Company was published
by the French Financial Markets Authority in fiscal year 2015, with
the exception of that of MFS described above.
To the best of the Company's knowledge, no other significant changes
in the Company's shareholding structure have taken place during
the past three fiscal years.
Survey of the Company's identifiable shareholders
Under the terms of its by-laws and in accordance with the legisla-
tion and regulations, the Company may, at any time, ask the entity
responsible for clearing shares (Euroclear France) for the name
(or legal name), nationality, and address of the holders of shares
or other securities conferring immediate or future voting rights at
its Shareholders' Meetings, along with the number of securities
held by each of them and, if applicable, any restrictions placed
upon such securities. Euroclear France obtains the information
requested from account-holding custodians affiliated to it, which
are obliged to provide such information.
At the request of the Company, the above information may be limited
to those individuals holding a number of securities as determined
by the Company.
The following table provides an analysis of the Company's shareholders on the basis of the survey of identifiable bearer shareholders
the Company conducted in December 2015:
Percentage of share capital
Institutional investors
77%
Including
France
16%
United Kingdom
11%
Switzerland
6%
Rest of Europe
15%
North America
45%
Asia Pacific
6%
Rest of the World
1%
Individual shareholders and "Fonds Danone" company investment fund
11%
Shares held by the Company and its subsidiaries
6%
Other
6%
Total
100%
Employee shareholding
Each year, the Company carries out a capital increase reserved for
Group employee members of a company savings plan.
As of December 31, 2015, to the Company's knowledge, the number
of the Company's shares held directly or indirectly by employees of
the Company and of companies related to it, and, in particular, those
that are subject to collective management or conditions prohibiting
their disposal, either within the framework of a French company
savings plan (Plan d'Épargne Entreprise) or through French com-
pany investment funds (Fonds Communs de Placement Entreprise
– FCPE) (the “Fonds Danone” company investment fund and the com-
pany investment funds of other Group subsidiaries), was 8,340,955,
i.e. 1,27% of the Company's share capital.
Only the supervisory board of the “Fonds Danone” FCPE is authorized
to vote on behalf of the shares held by the FCPE. As an exception
to this principle, in accordance with the decisions taken by the su-
pervisory board, holders of shares in the FCPE may be consulted
directly by referendum in the event that the supervisory board has
a split vote. The supervisory board is currently composed of (i) four
employee members representing current and former employees,
who are appointed by the representatives of the various trade
unions representing the Company's employees in accordance with
the French labor code, and of (ii) four members representing the
Company and appointed by the Group's management.