I have just received notification that all new memberships of the shareholders club have been suspended, effective yesterday. The suspension will be in force at least until the recapitalisation has been completed. They say that existing memberships are not affected, but the criteria for the number of shares required for membership may change for newcomers.
So, no new membership available in the immediate future and the number of shares required may increase.
Well, sh*t... This is indeed now stated on the shareholders club website:
QuoteIn a constant concern to better meet members expectations, to bring a quality service, relevant information on the Company and to preserve equity for the existing members, Euro Disney S.C.A.'s Shareholders Club announces the suspension of new memberships (new shareholders) as of Thursday, January 15th, 2015, for at least the implementation period of the recapitalization.
The future of the Shareholders Club is not affected by this operation. All current members of the Club will remain members afterwards. The advantages and services will be identical.
After this period of suspension, ana analysis on the threshold of the minimum quantity of shares to be held by the new members will be led before the coming into force of new membership criteria and/or new general conditions (terms) of the Shareholders Club.
That's a real bummer. I had 20 shares, and just used the subscription rights offer to boost that to 200 shares. I wanted to get back into the shareholders club immediately, but now I have to wait until all procedures are over, which isn't till this summer... And then they might change the threshold number of shares. :(
As the previous shareholding was 100 shares and these have now been converted into 900 "new shares" It would seem logical that the new shareholding will be at least 900 shares to retain parity with the current position (now suspended)
This may be the time that they decide to up the shareholding for new members and we won't know what that will be until later in the year.
Reading between the lines, I imagine that current members of the club will probably not have to increase their shareholding, but this is just supposition on my part. As you may know, original Eurodisney shareholders had their requirement pegged at minimum 10 shares (I think). so there is a precedent for my idea.
As usual with DLRP we will have to wait and see, but this is bad luck for anyone who was planning to join now!
They've said that membership conditions will remain unchanged for existing members, so 100 shares should remain enough for people who were members before the change....
New regulations won't affect people currently in the Club with 100 shares, until your membership expires (maximum of 2 years). For renewal of your membership, you must comply with the new regulations!
This happened to me, when they upped the requirements to 100 shares a couple of years back. I had just renewed my Club membership (holding 20 shares) when they announced this, so I was able to remain a Club member for the remainder of my two year membership, but that was that.
Hmm, re-reading the official statement gives me some hope:
QuoteAfter this period of suspension, an analysis on the threshold of the minimum quantity of shares to be held by the new members will be led before the coming into force of new membership criteria and/or new general conditions (terms) of the Shareholders Club.
It appears they will need some time in between the end of the period of suspension, and the coming into force of new membership criteria... So if that's true, I'll just have to be quick and use that window of time to gain two more years of Club membership. ;)
Quote from: DisneyAlba on January 29, 2015, 12:12:39 PM
New regulations won't affect people currently in the Club with 100 shares, until your membership expires (maximum of 2 years). For renewal of your membership, you must comply with the new regulations!
This happened to me, when they upped the requirements to 100 shares a couple of years back. I had just renewed my Club membership (holding 20 shares) when they announced this, so I was able to remain a Club member for the remainder of my two year membership, but that was that.
I think that was a slightly different situation to the issuing of new shares that is happening now. When this happened before, as captain rocket has already pointed out, existing members are allowed to keep their membership with their original number of shares. I thought this was 5, but captain rocket thinks it was 10.
Ah, you may be right about that... You're referring to this exemption in the General Conditions of the Shareholders Club?
QuoteMembership criteria
The Shareholders Club is only for individual Euro Disney S.C.A. shareholders who own a minimum of 100 Euro Disney S.C.A. shares (ISIN code: FR0010540740) in a bearer or in a registered form. The membership is free and valid for 2 years and until the last day of the month expiration indicated on the card.
The shareholders who meet one of the following situations are exempt from this requirement:
- Being members of the Shareholders Club since a date earlier than October 1st, 2005 and holding a minimum of five (5) Euro Disney S.C.A. shares on the date of the latest renewal.
- Justifying at the time of their membership request to the Shareholders Club, unbroken detention of a minimum of five (5) Euro Disney S.C.A. shares since a date earlier than October 1st, 2005.
So, I take it there was a similar share issue in 2005, then?
All in all, that still doesn't help me, since I'm currently *out* of the Club. So I can only hope for that window of opportunity I mentioned, and get at least another two years. ;)