Daryo Nov 13, 2015:

there is nothing special in the meaning of "seuls", nor it is any "wierd" usage of it, simply means "only/only them"

Nantissement d'actions
Les associés ayant nanti leurs actions continuent de représenter seuls les actions par eux remises en gage.

[partners/shareholders ... who have pledged their shares as collateral ] remain the only one to represent these shares
IOW creditors who have a lien on these shares still have no say whatsoever in the running of the business.

Basically it's akin to saying you may give you house as a collateral for a loan, but are still the only one who has the right to live in it.

the main point of the clause is in "continuent de représenter seuls", i.e. even if a creditor holds these shares as collateral it will have no say whatsoever in running the business - the main point is in keeping control of the company - so getting exactly right the translation for "seuls" is far more important then agonising between possessory and non-possessory pledges. ST only says these shares have been used by the shareholder as as collateral for a loan, nothing more.

This seems to be a quite standard clause in many Articles of association, there must umpteen translations available ...

Germaine Nov 13, 2015:

Il n'est pas rare que les associés fondateurs d'une société soient invités à (tenus de) remettre leurs parts à un tiers pour prémunir la société d'un désistement pendant une période de démarrage ou à l'occasion de certaines opérations. Les parts sont par la suite remises à leur propriétaire progressivement, selon un calendrier prédéterminé.

J'avais l'impression que c'était ce dont il s'agissait ici: d'un entiercement (plutôt que d'une mise en gage), d'autant qu'on parle de statuts constitutifs. "Nantir les parts" aurait alors le sens de payer leur prix de souscription (nantir la société du prix de leurs parts) et "remise en gage"= deposited in escrow.

Vérification faite sur Legifrance, il s'avère que les Français nantissent les créances (et non les créanciers - on nantit quelqu'un en/de qlqe chose, cf. http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/nantir ) et l'on trouve entre autres, dans le cas de statuts de certaines sociétés civiles immobilières, des règles sur le nantissement des parts sociales (sigh...). Notons aussi que le ministère de l'Économie et des Finances (Paris) traduit "nantir des valeurs" par "pawn securities" (!) (http://gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/)

David Swain (asker) Nov 12, 2015:

Thanks. Good to hear that I'm not alone.

philgoddard Nov 12, 2015:

Don't worry It had me confused for a long time.

David Swain (asker) Nov 12, 2015:

I must say that, looking at it again, having put it aside for a while, I have realised I had misread it previously. It makes more sense to me now.

David Swain (asker) Nov 12, 2015:

Thanks Phil. That is a distinct possibility, French concepts of style being what they are. I had assumed a different term would mean something else in a legal text.

philgoddard Nov 12, 2015:

I don't think it's anything to do with possessory and non-possessory pledges. "Seuls" means "they themselves".

philgoddard Nov 12, 2015:

I think "remises en gage" is an attempt to avoid repetition of "nanti", and it means if they pledge shares as collateral, they retain the voting rights - in other words, the rights are not transferred to the pledgee.