Originally Posted by
brunos
Hi Richelieu. Now I am getting utterly confused.
I have never seen a Board of Directors/Conseil d'Administration of a private (meaning not State-owned) company operate as you describe. Actually, it would be against French law of Société Anonyme (and laws in most countries). Directors are individuals and vote as they wish. Each one has one vote whoever he/she "represents" or how he/she was appointed to the board. They do not vote with a proportion of "their" shares.
The newspaper article was referring to an approval by the shareholders' general assembly, not the board. Hence the confusion, I think, but it may be mine. If it was an instruction given to the state-appointed boardmember, then I'd agree that a "no" vote and a "absention" vote would be different (both as a symbol and in effect, since they'd vote with just the need of having more "yes" than "no" among voters].