Successful capital increase by KION GROUP AG

2016-07-18 / 21:45:21

  • 9,890,000 new shares placed at EUR46.44 each
  • Issue proceeds to be used for the partial refinancing of the Dematic acquisition
  • Anchor shareholder Weichai Power receives 60 per cent of the new shares

Wiesbaden, 18 July 2016 - Today, KION GROUP AG successfully completed the capital increase resolved upon earlier today. All of the 9,890,000 new shares were placed at a price of EUR46.44 each which was set in an accelerated bookbuilding offering for institutional investors. Weichai Power, the anchor shareholder of KION GROUP AG, acquired 5,934,000, or 60 per cent, of the new shares, increasing its stake in the company to ca. 40 per cent. The remaining shares were offered to institutional investors as part of the accelerated bookbuilding offering.

With the consent of the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board of KION GROUP AG resolved to use the existing authorised capital in full and to increase the Company's share capital by 10 per cent against cash contributions, excluding shareholders' subscription rights. The Company's new no-par-value bearer shares will be entitled to dividend pay-outs from the 2016 fiscal year.

The gross proceeds from the capital increase amount to approximately EUR459.3 million.These proceeds will be used to partly refinance the acquisition of Dematic, a company specialising in automation and supply chain optimisation. This acquisition will establish the KION Group - already one of the world's two largest suppliers of forklift trucks, warehouse technology and associated services - as one of the world's leading providers of intelligent intralogistics solutions. Leveraging its sales and service networks, technologies and resources, the enlarged company will be able to seamlessly offer the full material handling product and service offering to customers of all sizes in a broad range of industries around the world.

The transaction will initially be funded by a bridge loan facility of EUR3.0 billion that has been firmly committed by a group of KION Group's core relationship banks and will be reduced by the proceeds from this equity issuance. In addition to this 10 per cent capital increase, the acquisition will also to be refinanced permanently by long-term capital markets and bank debt. The KION Group has a conservative financial policy of maintaining a strong cross-over credit profile with reliable access to debt capital markets. Going forward, the KION Group would therefore ask for the approval of its shareholders to create another authorized capital of up to 10 per cent. This authorized capital would be used in the future should the KION Group believe it to be prudent to do so at that time.

As the KION Group's anchor shareholder, Weichai Power supports the Company's strategy of organic growth and growth by acquisition. "We would like to thank our investors for their strong support for the Dematic acquisition, as reflected in the strong demand for our newly issued shares. Furthermore, we are delighted to be taking the major step represented by the Dematic acquisition alongside our anchor shareholder, which is once again demonstrating its long-term focus and its confidence in the strategy chosen by KION's Executive Board," said Gordon Riske, Chief Executive Officer of the KION Group. "Securing Weichai Power as a very important and financially robust shareholder back in 2012 has been very positive for the Group's growth. In addition, Weichai Power provides invaluable support for our activities in China, which is an extremely important market for the KION Group's products."

Website: kiongroup.com/mediasite

Twitter: @kion_group


The Company

The KION Group - comprising the seven brands of Linde, STILL, Fenwick, OM STILL, Baoli, Voltas and Egemin Automation - is the largest manufacturer of industrial trucks in western and eastern Europe, the global number two in the industry and the leading non-domestic supplier in China. The Linde and STILL brands serve the premium segment worldwide. Fenwick is the largest supplier of material handling products in France, while OM STILL is a market leader in Italy. The Baoli brand focuses on the economy segment, and Voltas is a leading provider of industrial trucks in India. Egemin Automation is a leading international logistics automation specialist.

The KION Group is present in more than 100 countries and, in 2015, employed around 23,500 people and generated revenue of around EUR5.1 billion. KION GROUP AG is listed on Deutsche Börse's Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the MDAX (the German stock index for medium-sized companies), the STOXX Europe 600 index, which comprises the 600 largest companies in Europe, and the FTSE EuroMid, which is made up of mid-cap European stocks.


Disclaimer

This document and the information contained herein are for information purposes only and do not constitute a prospectus or an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction.

This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Future results could differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements due to certain factors, e.g. changes in business, economic and competitive conditions, regulatory reforms, results of technical studies, foreign exchange rate fluctuations, uncertainties in litigation or investigative proceedings, and the availability of financing. We do not undertake any responsibility to update the forward-looking statements in this release.


Further information for the media

Michael Hauger
Head of Corporate Communications
Tel.: +49 (0)611 770 655
michael.hauger@kiongroup.com

Frank Brandmaier
Head of Corporate Media Relations
Tel.: +49 (0)611 770 752
frank.brandmaier@kiongroup.com

Further information for investors

Frank Herzog
Head of Corporate Finance
Tel.: +49 (0)611 770 303
frank.herzog@kiongroup.com

Dr Karoline Jung-Senssfelder
Head of Investor Relations and M&A
Tel.: +49 (0)611 770 450
karoline.jung-senssfelder@kiongroup.com

Your Contacts

Dr. Christopher Spies

Senior Manager Corporate Communications

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