LONDON: HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC) announces that, following its announcement on 30 October 2020 that it intended to submit an application for the delisting of its shares from Euronext Paris, the Delisting has been approved by the Board of Directors of Euronext Paris S.A.
The decision by HSBC to delist was taken following a review of the trading volumes, costs and administrative requirements related to its listing on Euronext Paris.
The Delisting will have no impact on HSBC’s day-to-day operations in France or in Continental Europe, where HSBC remains committed to its plans to be a leading international bank in Europe. It will also not impact HSBC’s other listings on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, the New York Stock Exchange or the Bermuda Stock Exchange.
A sales facility procedure will be put in place from 27 November 2020 to 18 December 2020 to allow shareholders to sell on the LSE their HSBC shares which are listed on Euronext Paris and held in the Euroclear France clearing system.
HSBC has appointed CACEIS Corporate Trust to act as centralizing agent under the Sales Facility.
During the Sales Facility Period, shareholders with HSBC Euronext Shares will have the following options:
- sell on a voluntary basis all or part of their HSBC Euronext Shares on the LSE by participating in the Sales Facility (described in more detail below); or
- retain all or part of their HSBC Euronext Shares, which will continue to be traded on Euronext Paris during the entire Sales Facility Period until and including the trading day prior to the date of the Delisting.
The HSBC Euronext Shares will be delisted from Euronext Paris on 22 December 2020.
Shareholders who do not wish to sell their HSBC Euronext Shares under the Sales Facility or directly on Euronext Paris, or have otherwise taken no action by the Delisting Date, will be able to trade their HSBC Euronext Shares on the LSE, subject to the terms and conditions applied by their financial intermediaries.
Shareholders who wish to sell their HSBC Euronext Shares on the LSE under the Sales Facility should request their financial intermediary to deliver their HSBC Euronext Shares during the Sales Facility Period to the Centralizing Agent, pursuant to the procedure described below.
The HSBC Euronext Shares delivered to the Centralizing Agent during the Sales Facility Period will be sold on the LSE as from 23 December 2020 by a broker, at the market price prevailing at the time of the sale.
The Centralizing Agent will calculate the average sale price of the HSBC Euronext Shares and will be in charge of transferring the sale proceeds to the HSBC shareholders participating in the Sales Facility once it has received the funds for the sale of all of the HSBC Euronext Shares tendered under the Sales Facility.
HSBC will pay the brokerage commissions on the LSE for the sale of HSBC Euronext Shares tendered pursuant to the Sales Facility, the fee of the Centralizing Agent and any applicable foreign exchange commission that would be incurred in connection with the Sales Facility.
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of HSBC, is headquartered in London. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 64 countries and territories in its geographical regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa. With assets of US$2,956bn at 30 September 2020, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations.
