'Work in progress': TotalEnergies CEO Pouyanne on plans for NY listing

By Francois de Beaupuy

TotalEnergies SE Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said the French energy giant is still working on a plan to list shares in New York, on top of Paris and other European exchanges, in a bid to lure more US investors.
 

The company’s plan to turn its American depositary receipts into ordinary shares is “work in progress,” Pouyanne said during the company’s annual investor day in New York Wednesday. The board “supports unanimously” the project, “if it is technically feasible.” 
 

The TotalEnergies CEO announced his ambition for an American listing earlier this year in an effort to reduce the discount at which the company trades compared with its US peers. The idea caused a political stir in Paris — including from President Emmanuel Macron — amid concern that it might reduce the firm’s commitment to France and weaken the Paris stock exchange.
 

To reassure French authorities, Pouyanne has pledged that the company will remain headquartered in France, and keep its listing in Paris and other European exchanges, even if it were to have its shares traded in New York.
 

Pouyanne first mentioned considerations for a “primary listing” in New York in an interview with Bloomberg last April, arguing that its shareholder base is increasingly made of US investors. 
 

They tend to have a greater appetite for oil and gas stocks than European asset managers, which are increasingly constrained by investment rules related to environmental, social and governance standards, the CEO has said. Some US investors don’t like the “complexity” of the currently available American depositary receipts, according to Pouyanne.  
 

ADRs represent 9 per cent of the shares of TotalEnergies, Pouyanne said in New York on Wednesday.