With the news that the Disneyland Paris OPO has been delayed by the AMF, let’s have a look where things stand with the Euro Disney recapitalization. As of 27 February 2015, the shareholding of Euro Disney S.C.A. as reported to the AMF was:
THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY: 72.34% (566,675,040 shares) INVESCO: 2.7% ( 21,105,711 shares)* MORGAN STANLEY: 5.52% ( 43,226,389 shares) KINGDOM HOLDING COMPANY: 4.98% ( 38,976,490 shares) Prince ALWALEED
*It was wrongly reported earlier this month that INVESCO had sold all their shares but this appears not to be the case. On the 27 February they held 2.7% of Euro Disney. This news appears to have been reported due to the confusing way the AMF have been publishing their reports.
The Bank MORGAN STANLEY informed the AMF on 27 February 2015 that they now hold 5.52% of Capital in Euro Disney. Other operations by Morgan Stanley have also been the subject of statements made public by the AMF on the 4 and 5 March when the term Equity Swaps appears in the notifications.
Here are some explanations on these rather complex operations by the Morgan Stanley bank. Morgan Stanley bought shares on behalf of clients who wish to remain anonymous, and these shares were purchased as part of a “Share Exchange Agreement”.
So prior to these actions the shares were “loaned” to Morgan Stanley who is committed by contract to pay for them later, on different dates (between 8 May 2015 and 2 January 2017).
These shares have made available to their clients who have just taken an option on these securities and have until a certain date to complete the transaction and pay for them.
This is of course not free, there are costs and some benefits from doing this. The clients of Morgan Stanley, who wish to remain anonymous have taken an option on the purchase of the shares. They can then speculate on the rise in the stock to ensure an attractive purchase price. That then leaves them some time to observe the behavior of the shares on the Markets in the coming months and then decide whether to or not to buy the shares.
A total of 41,300,499 Equity Swap Shares were purchased at a price of €1.00. The other shares Morgan Stanley purchased were bought at € 1.24 and € 1.25.
If we were to put one and one together, we could easily bet on the identity of the anonymous Morgan Stanley client.
We should know more about the OPA at the end of March
Source: AMF and APPAED
