Shareholders´ agreements

With the reform, shareholders´ agreements have officially become part of company regulations. Whereas, in the past, the voting trust (to limit the transfer of shares to an uninvolved third party) was considered a mere gentlemen´s agreement, it has now been expressively included in the Italian Civil Code, with effect from 1 January 2004 in order to achieve transparency in the real centers of company power and control. There is no obligation to render public those shareholders´ agreements drawn up with reference to companies that do not use risk capital. However, in the case of companies that do use risk capital, the company must be informed of the shareholders´ agreements and they must be mentioned in the minutes of the Annual General Meeting filed with the official register of companies.