Manage Shares

There are two ways to hold shares in a French listed company, either through Bearer Shares or through Registered 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.

Registred 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 Axway, CM-CIC Emetteur is in charge of managing registered shares. This formula is advantageous to persons who do not intend to make frequent trades in the Axway shares they hold.

Pure registered shares
Advantages: The shareholder receives regular information on Axway (including notices of General Meetings of Shareholders, in particular). No payment of custodian fees is charged. The dividend is paid by CM-CIC Emetteur without any delay.
Drawbacks: For a buy or sell transaction, the shareholder must transform his shares into bearer shares by his bank, as CM-CIC Emetteur 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 Axway and 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.

Transformation into pure registered shares
The shareholder must ask his financial institution to transfer the Axway shares to CM-CIC Emetteur (in charge of managing all registered shares on behalf of Axway) 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: