Bureau Veritas today announces its decision to acquire a block of its own shares from Wendel - which will amount to a maximum of 100 million euros and will represent approximately 0.8% of its capital.
This repurchase is carried out through participation in the accelerated procedure for building an order book with institutional investors, including Lac1, managed by Bpifrance, as announced by Wendel today. The transaction was unanimously approved by the independent directors.
Wendel remains the main shareholder of Bureau Veritas after the completion of this transaction, with approximately 26% of the share capital and 41% of the voting rights. Lac1, managed by Bpifrance, will become a new key investor with around 4% of the capital.
IMPLEMENTATION OF A BUYBACK BY THE COMPANY OF 0.8% OF ITS OWN SHARES
Following today's announcement by Wendel of its intention to sell approximately 18 million Bureau Veritas shares representing approximately 9% of the capital, i.e. a maximum total amount of 1.1 billion euros by way of accelerated placement with construction of an order book, Bureau Veritas announces that it has undertaken to participate by placing an irreducible purchase order, at the placement price, relating to its own shares (i.e. approximately 0.8% of its capital) for a maximum total amount of 100 million euros. This order is part of the share buyback program authorized by the shareholders of Bureau Veritas during the General Meeting of June 22, 2023 and which the Board of Directors decided to use at its meeting on June 3, 2023. April 2024.
The repurchase price of the shares will be equal to the price resulting from the placement procedure and construction of the order book. The Company will not participate in the creation of the price resulting from the order book.
With this repurchase, the company is making significant progress towards its objective, announced during the presentation of its strategic plan on March 20, 2024, of carrying out share purchases within the framework of the repurchase program for a maximum amount of 200 million euros in 2024. This repurchase accelerates the objective of improving returns to shareholders by increasing net earnings per share.
The Repurchase would be financed in cash from the Group's available cash and will not affect the Company's ability to achieve the announced strategic plan or its development and financing capabilities.
In accordance with the objective of the share repurchase program adopted by the General Meeting, the repurchased shares will be allocated for the purpose of cancellation and other purposes authorized by the shareholders of the company at the General Meeting from June 22, 2023.
ACQUISITION OF THE LAC1 FUND, MANAGED BY BPIFRANCE, IN THE CAPITAL OF THE COMPANY
The Lac1 fund, managed by Bpifrance, announced its intention to take a stake of approximately 4% in the Company's capital as part of the sale operation initiated by Wendel.
On April 3, 2024, the Board of Directors authorized the signing of an agreement to be concluded between Lac1, managed by Bpifrance, and the Company, under the terms of which it will be agreed that following the entry of Lac1 into the capital of the Company, the Board of Directors will propose the appointment of Bpifrance as an independent director in compliance with the parity rules or, if such an appointment cannot take place immediately, as a non-voting director.
Hinda Gharbi, Chief Executive Officer of Bureau Veritas, commented: 'The transaction demonstrates both our great confidence in the growth potential of Bureau Veritas and our commitment to increasing the return of our shareholders, as presented during our Capital Markets Day which was held on March 20, 2024. I thank Wendel for its active and continued support, and I am delighted to welcome Lac1, managed by Bpifrance, a strong French institutional investor, as a significant new shareholder of Bureau Veritas and member of the board of directors of the company.
Contact:
Laurent Brunelle
Vice-President in charge of Investor Relations
Tel: + 33 (0)1 55 24 76 09
Email: laurent.brunelle@bureauveritas.com
Colin Verbrugghe
Investor Relations Manager
Tel: 33 (0)1 55 24 77 80
Email: colin.verbrugghe @bureauveritas.com
BUREAU VERITAS SA 
