Shares are "bearer shares" when the issuing company does not know who holds them. The institution that manages the share account collects handling fees and only it can identify the bearers. The advantage of this system is that it is both simple and rapid. Purchase or sell orders are quickly processed.

Shareholders who want to be on record with the issuing company may opt for registered shares by killing out a registration form provided by their account manager. Registration confers double voting rights at the shareholders' meetings if the shareholder has been registered for more than two years. In addition, the shareholder will receive the information provided by the issuing company directly along with invitations to Annual Shareholders' Meetings. If the shareholder wants to sell his securities, he must have them reconverted to bearer shares.

There is no minimum holding required in order to open a registered securities account.

PPR pure registered shares are managed by CACEIS*. The latter conducts all of the operations pertaining to the management of the shareholder's account (paying the pidend, subscription rights, subscribing to new shares, etc.). There are no handling fees for this type of service.

Administred registered shares are managed by the shareholders account manage but the shares are registered with CACEIS*. As with pure registered shares, the shareholder is invited to the annual meetings and receives all of the company's financial information directly (annual report, Letter to Shareholders). His contact remains his account manager. On the other hand, the shareholder pays the handling fees.