SECTION 1 -

share price could be affected. The initial share price may not accurately reflect the market price of
these shares in the months following the Transaction, before the various market participants have
acquired a better understanding of the Group’s business.
While New Services has requested that its shares be listed on the Euronext Paris market, there
is no guarantee that a liquid market for the shares will develop, or that such a market will be sustainable
if it does develop. If no liquid market for the New Services shares develops, the market price of the
shares will suffer.
Credit rating sensitivity risks
The financial terms of some of the credit agreements that New Services will execute before
the completion of the Transaction were negotiated on the assumption of a solid investment grade
credit rating. If the Company’s credit is downgraded after the signature of these agreements, the
applicable interest rate will increase, and a leverage ratio test (Net Consolidated Debt to EBITDA of at
least 3 to 1), will automatically become part of these agreements. However, none of these credit
agreements will contain an acceleration clause triggered by solely by a credit ratings downgrade (see
section 2.6.6.2 of this prospectus, “Conditions of the Group’s future financing agreements”).
Any deterioration in the Group’s reputation and financial strength and, by implication, a
decline in its credit rating, would adversely affect business levels.
3.5 Risk management
The Group’s risk management policy involves the identification and assessment of the risks
facing the Group and the implementation of appropriate action and mitigation plans with respect to
these risks.
The Group is working to establish an integrated company risk management policy aimed at
providing a complete overview of the risk portfolio, by using standardized and coherent risk
evaluation and management procedures its all of its subsidiaries and department. Coordination of
this integrated approach is the responsibility of the legal, tax and risk management department,
which is in charge of applying risk evaluation and risk management methods in a consistent and
coherent manner at the subsidiary level. This network will be under the direction of a specifically
appointed manager.
The Group is developing a Group‐wide risk identification system. Risks will be identified and
categorized as strategic, financial, operational or legal and action plans at different levels of the
business will be assigned to each risk.
Management of market risks (interest rate risk, exchange rate risk, credit and counterparty
risk) rests with the Group finance department. The finance department manages market risks taking
into account financial security as well as profitability. Because it has a significant amount of
investments, the Group pays special attention to the management of counterparty risk by:
• carrying out transactions with counterparties the Group perceives to be of the highest
quality in the relevant country;
• diversifying its counterparty portfolio;
• setting credit ceilings for each counterparty; and
• carrying out a monthly reporting procedure to track the different types of
counterparties and their credit worthiness (based on their credit ratings).
The Group also pays special attention to exchange rate risks, in particular by investing cash
generated by activities in the currency of the country in which the associated products are issued and
putting in place currency hedges with respect to the dividends paid by subsidiaries to the parent
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