French Commercial code
In forceThe Articles of Association may provide that the shares of sociétés par actions or the corporate units of sociétés à responsabilité limitée subject to corporation tax by operation of law or by option may be leased, within the meaning of the provisions of Article 1709 of the Civil Code, for the benefit of an individual.
Share leases may only relate to registered securities that cannot be traded on a regulated market, are not registered in the operations of a central depository and are not subject to the custody obligation provided for in article L. 225-197-1 of this code or to the unavailability periods provided for in Chapters II and III of Title IV of Book IV of the Labour Code.
The leasing of shares or corporate units may not relate to securities:
1° Held by natural persons as part of the management of their private assets when the income and capital gains benefit from an income tax exemption regime;
2° Registered in the assets of a venture capital company mentioned in l'article 1er-1 de la loi n° 85-695 du 11 juillet 1985 portant diverses dispositions d'ordre économique et financier ou d'une société unipersonnelle d'investissement à risque mentionnée à article 208 D of the General Tax Code;
3° Held by a venture capital mutual fund, an innovation mutual fund or a local investment fund mentioned respectively in articles L. 214-28, L. 214-30 and L. 214-31of the Monetary and Financial Code.
On pain of nullity, the shares or units leased may not be the subject of a sublease or securities loan within the meaning of articles L. 211-22 to L. 211-26 of the same code.
Shares in joint-stock companies or partnership shares in limited liability companies, where either of these companies is set up to exercise the professions referred to in Article 1 of the loi n° 90-1258 du 31 décembre 1990 relative à l'exercice sous forme de sociétés des professions libérales soumises à un statut législatif ou réglementaire ou dont le titre est protégé et aux sociétés de participations financières de professions libérales, may not be the subject of the lease agreement provided for in this article, except for the benefit of salaried professionals or self-employed associates practising within them and, with the exception of companies operating in the health field or exercising the functions of a public or ministerial officer, professionals practising the profession constituting the corporate purpose of these companies.
When the company is the subject of safeguard or receivership proceedings pursuant to Title III of Book VI of this Code, the leasing of its shares or corporate units may only take place under the conditions set by the court that opened these proceedings.
