By America Hernandez
PARIS (Reuters) -A French appeals court rejected on Tuesday a complaint filed by minority shareholders against the terms of a government buyout of power giant EDF (EPA:EDF), clearing the way for a full nationalisation of the company to go ahead.
The court of appeals "rejected all of the plaintiffs' demands", according to a document summarizing the ruling seen by Reuters.
The government last year launched a buyout for the shares it did not already own in EDF with the aim to delist it, stumping up around 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion) to take full control of the debt-laden group.
The buyout is part of President Emmanuel Macron's renewed bet on nuclear energy, which includes building at least six new reactors in coming years.
The association for the defense of minority shareholders (ADAM) had challenged the terms of the offer, saying the buyout price of 12 euros per share was too low. Its head, Colette Neuville, declined to comment on Tuesday, saying time was needed to fully understand the decision and possible legal options.
EDF also declined to comment.
The government's offer will now be reopened under the same financial terms from May 4 to May 17 so that holdout investors can sell their remaining shares and bonds, after which squeeze-out proceedings will begin, the French finance ministry said in a statement.
EDF slumped to a record net loss of 17.9 billion euros in 2022, hammered by an unprecedented number of outages at its reactors.
The French state currently owns 95.82% of the share capital and at least 96.53% of the voting rights of EDF, but the offer was put on hold by ADAM's lawsuit.