Protection of minority shareholders in French listed companies.

Summary For a long time, the protection of minority shareholders has been a research topic mainly present in the legal literature. It was not until the development of corporate governance that this subject reappeared in the theoretical and empirical literature of finance. First, the question of the legitimacy of shareholder protection is raised. The empirical study carried out on the French market shows that minority shareholders are often expropriated by the coalition of shareholders that controls the company. In a second step, the concept of shareholder activism is analyzed. It was then observed that recourse to the judge is the most effective mode of action for activism. Finally, an in-depth analysis of a public offer mechanism specific to French law shows that the intervention of the legislator, in terms of shareholder protection, can have counter-productive effects.