Section 4: Changes in share capital and employee share ownership.

I.-The subscription by the company of its own shares, either directly or by a person acting in his own name but on behalf of the company, is prohibited. The founders or, in the case of an increase in capital, the members of the Board of Directors or the Management Board, as the case may be, are required, under the conditions set out in Article L. 225-251 and the first paragraph…

The General Meeting that has decided on a capital reduction not motivated by losses may authorise the Board of Directors or the Management Board, as the case may be, to purchase a specific number of shares in order to cancel them.

Companies which allow their employees to share in their results by allocating their shares, those which allocate their shares under the conditions provided for in articles L. 225-197-1 to L. 225-197-3 of this Code and those which grant options to purchase their shares under the conditions set out in articles L. 225-177 et seq. may, for this purpose, buy back their own shares. The shares must be allocated or the…

The Ordinary General Meeting may authorise the Board of Directors or the Management Board, as the case may be, to purchase the company’s shares, in order to offer them or allocate them: – in the year in which they are purchased, to the beneficiaries of a transaction mentioned in Article L. 225-208 of this code or intervening within the framework of articles L. 3332-1 et seq. of the French Labour…