Equal treatment of shareholders and European Union law - Case note on the Decision ‘Audiolux’ of the European Court of Justice

Main author: Mucciarelli, Federico
Format: Journal Article           
Online access: Click here to view record


id eprints-14311
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description The European Court of Justice has recently issued a decision on the existence of a general principle of equal treatment of minority shareholders upon a transfer of control. According to the plaintiff, from certain specific acts of EU law (such as, among others, the mandatory bid rule provided for by the Takeover Directive) could be inferred the existence of a principle, according to which the person who purchases the control of a company should then offer to all other shareholders the same opportunity to sell their shares. The ECJ denied that such a principle can be inferred from specific provisions of derivative EU law beyond their scope of application. In addition, the ECJ has put in clear words that, in order to impose to the acquirer of corporate control a duty to purchase all outstanding shares, a specific legislative decision is required, with the aim to weight all involved interests.
format Journal Article
author Mucciarelli, Federico
author_facet Mucciarelli, Federico
authorStr Mucciarelli, Federico
author_letter Mucciarelli, Federico
title Equal treatment of shareholders and European Union law - Case note on the Decision ‘Audiolux’ of the European Court of Justice
publisher De Gruyter
publishDate 2010
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/14311/