shareholders

Shareholder info

RSS Feeds RSS

The different forms of DANONE shares

BEARER SHARES:

Shares are categorised as "bearer shares" when the name of the owner is not disclosed to the issuing company. However, these shares are not anonymous since they appear in the account managed by the financial intermediary. In France, most shares traded on the Stock Exchange belong to this category.

REGISTERED SHARES:

Shares are categorised as "registered shares" when the name of the shareholder appears in the share register of the company. The use of registered shares makes communication between the company and its registered shareholders easier. This method may take two forms:

  • shares are "managed registered shares" when the management of the securities account is entrusted to a financial intermediary. The service is billed by the financial intermediary.
  • shares are "pure registered shares" when they are entered directly and only in the share register of the issuing company. The issuing company is in charge of the administrative management of the shares and no custodian fees are paid.

In the case of Danone, Banque Lazard is in charge of managing registered shares.

This formula is advantageous to persons who do not intend to make frequent trades in the Danone shares they hold.

Advantages and drawbacks of managed and pure registered shares

PURE REGISTERED SHARES:

ADVANTAGES:

  • The shareholder receives regular information on Danone (including notices of General Meetings of Shareholder, in particular).
  • No payment of custodian fees is charged.
  • The dividend is paid by Banque Lazard without any delay.

DRAWBACKS:

  • For a buy or sell transaction, the shareholder must transform his shares into bearer shares by his bank, as Banque Lazard has no authority to engage in this type of transaction.
  • If the shareholder is a registered shareholder for his entire portfolio of shares, he receives as many statements as he owns registered shares, which may be burdensome when he files his income tax report.

MANAGED REGISTERED SHARES:

ADVANTAGES:

  • The shareholder receives regular information on Danone may place trading orders through his financial institution.
  • He receives only one securities account statement at the time of his income tax return.

DRAWBACKS:

  • The payment of custodian fees is required.
  • The dividend may be paid by the institution administering the securities account after a delay.

TRANFORMATION INTO PURE REGISTERED SHARES:

The shareholder must ask his financial institution to transfer the Danone shares to Banque Lazard (in charge of managing all registered shares on behalf of Danone) in order to have them transformed into pure registered shares. Transfer fees may be charged by the broker at that time. In order to be informed of the practical terms and conditions of the transfer, the shareholder may contact:

Issuers department of Lazard Frères Banque
121 Boulevard Haussmann 75008 Paris
France
T: +33 1 44 13 03 36
F: +33 1 44 13 06 60

Useful information on the Danone Share

Shareholder Hotline 0800 320 323

Number of shares outstanding
646,990,850 ordinary shares, nominal value € 0.25 per share

Stock Market

Danone shares are listed on Euronext Paris and on the Swiss Stock exhange, the SWX Suisse Exchange

Main codes and tickers:

  • ISIN : FR0000120644
  • REUTERS : DANO.PA
  • BLOOMBERG : BN FP
  • DATASTREAM : F : BSN
  • WEBSITE : DA
Dow Jones - Sustainability Indexes

The following table provides information with respect to the beneficial share ownership and voting rights of principal shareholders, as of December 31st 2009

Shareholders
Number of shares held
Percentage of share capital
Number of gross voting rights
Percentage of gross voting rights (1)
Number of net voting rights
Percentage of net voting rights (2)
Eurazeo group
26,915,746
4.2%
26,915,746
4.0%
26,915,746
4.2%
Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations group
23,271,322
3.6%
23,271,322
3.4%
23,271,322
3.6%
Sofina and Henex group
13,584,541
2.1%
24,184,541
3.6%
24,184,541
3.8%
Crédit Agricole Assurances group
11,178,709
1.7%
11,178,709
1.7%
11,178,709
1.7%
FCPE “Fonds Danone”
8,740,760
1.4%
16,180,078
2.4
16,180,078
2.5%
The Company
27,527,220
4.3%
27,527,220
4.1%
-
-
Subsidiaries of the Company (Danone SA)
5,980,005
0.9%
5,980,005
0.9%
-
-
Public
529,792,547
81.8%
540,511,824
79.9%
540,511,824
84.2%
TOTAL
646,990,850
100.0%
675,749,445
100.0%
642,242,220
100.0%
(1)The percentage of gross voting rights includes the shares held by the Company and its subsidiaries, which hold no voting rights.
(2)The number of net voting rights (or voting rights that are “exercisable in the Shareholders’ Meeting”) excludes the shares that hold no voting rights.