More and more companies are considering to go

"Massacred course", "restricted funding", "too heavy constraints. Merits of market place in diving, the criticism of the stock market tend to multiply. More and more companies are considering to go.

After Clarins, whose public purchase offer (OPA) has just ended, Oberthur has just announced its intention to follow the same path. The manufacturer of smart cards is now a project of OPA of its parent, François-Charles Oberthur trustee (membership).

The latter, which has 71,21 of the capital of subsidiary s Oberthur, undertakes to redeem the part it does not yet hold. "The stock route to the title failed to Oberthur Card Systems (introduced in 2000, and then renamed Oberthur Technologies, Editor's note) to take advantage of its rating and the diversification of its sources of funding", says membership, the parent company.

In statistics, the movement of business strike remains marginal but it is. NYSE Euronext Paris lists 20 radiation of companies French on the Euroliste since the beginning of the year, all combined grounds (mergers, bankruptcy...), including 9 operations, say public to private, conducted following titles redemptions by shareholders or financial (1). And that's not counting 8 foreign companies struck out of the Euroliste.

The number of "public to private" (P to P) has more than doubled from last year, where only 4 operations had been accounted for on a total of 29. He must go back to 2003, i.e. shortly after the collapse of the dot-com bubble (the CAC 40 index had a low point on March 12), to find a similar number of withdrawals of hexagonal companies. When valuations are low, some leaders may be tempted to get out of the rating." The current situation of fact markets that some listed companies are not necessarily the outcome of the crisis in the short term, said Martine Charbonnier, Director Executive European listing of Nyse Euronext. This trend is not unique to our markets: it is also output elsewhere in Europe, including London.

Potential candidates

A failure to make the introductions on the stock market, many intermediaries are to develop this activity. They direct indeed actively companies offer out of the rating. "The leak will continue, so there is an effect of Word of mouth." "A large part of SMEs feed on the project, even vague, output rating while average values are faced with a set of heavy regulatory constraints," noted as Caroline Weber, Executive Director of Middlenext.

At the same time, fewer companies enter stock market, as evidenced by the net decrease in the volumes since the beginning of the year. Aborted and cancelled operations also hit a record five years this quarter in Europe, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

However, leaving the stock market, to have the means to redeem the minority and accept the arrival of investment fund. Oberthur has estimated the buyback at around 200 million euros, funded by debt. "Minds are undoubtedly strong, but because of the scarcity of credit, it is not easy to succeed its operation," said, meanwhile, Agnes Blazy, analyst ISR-governance in Crédit Mutuel - CIC Securities.

Potential candidates generally have common features: these are often groups of floating limited "whose family is in the majority, who are not rated shareholders and who pay a dividend.". "Dividends can help pay for a loan," she repeats. Among the groups with a profile similar to that of Oberthur, it also cites LDC, Cegedim, Boiron, Plastic Omnium, Trigano, NIRS or even Fleury Michon.