**Reasoning** Electricité de France (EDF) in 2022 experienced severe financial distress. Key indicators from the annual report: - **Profitability collapse**: Revenue grew from €84.5bn to €143.5bn, but fuel/energy costs exploded from €44.3bn to €121.0bn. Operating profit before D&A swung from +€18.0bn to –€5.0bn. Net loss attributable to owners was –€17.94bn (vs +€5.11bn profit in 2021). - **Solvency strain**: Equity attributable to owners of parent fell from €50.2bn to €34.3bn. Total equity dropped from €62.0bn to €46.6bn, while total assets grew from €361bn to €388bn, implying higher leverage. - **Negative operating cash flow**: Cash from operations swung from +€12.6bn to –€7.4bn. Heavy investing outflows (–€25.1bn) were funded by massive financing inflows (+€33.9bn), largely from new borrowings (€34.2bn) and a capital increase (€3.25bn). - **Hybrid bond activity**: EDF already uses perpetual subordinated bonds. In 2022, it made payments on these of €606m and had net redemptions/issuance effects reducing equity by €1.025bn. This indicates hybrids are an existing, actively managed part of the capital structure. - **Market context**: Interest rates rose sharply in 2022 (5Y swap from –0.26% to 1.73%). Corporate bond yields widened (iBoxx sub-sen delta 0.2 spread from 1.30% to 2.30%). This makes issuing new hybrid debt more expensive. - **Credit profile**: Given the losses, negative EBITDA, and heavy reliance on external financing, EDF's creditworthiness is under pressure. Hybrid bonds (deeply subordinated, with optional coupon deferral) are the most equity-like debt instrument. Over-reliance on them would signal weakness and increase funding costs further. However, a *moderate* use (e.g., maintaining existing proportion rather than expanding) helps preserve equity and provides rating-agency equity credit without diluting shareholders—especially relevant since the French state is the dominant owner and already injected capital. Given the severe cash burn, existing hybrid presence, and the need to maintain some equity credit while not overloading on expensive subordinated debt in a rising-rate environment, a **moderate but not extreme reliance** (around 25%) appears most plausible as a target for the capital structure. 0% is unrealistic given their existing stock, and 50%+ would be aggressive for a company with negative earnings and cash flow. 25%