Source: http://reports.metrogroup.de/2015-2016/annual-report/combined-management-report/notes-pursuant-to-the-german-commercial-code.html
Timestamp: 2019-12-14 11:01:02
Document Index: 145236278

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 315', '§ 289', '§ 136', '§ 71', '§ 186', '§ 186', '§ 186', '§ 186', '§ 186', '§ 4', '§ 71', '§ 71', '§ 71', '§ 18', '§ 18', '§ 186', '§ 186', '§ 53', '§ 53', '§ 53', '§ 53', '§ 315', '§ 289']

Notes pursuant to the German Commercial Code - METRO GROUP Annual Report 2015/16
On 30 September 2016, the share capital of METRO AG totalled €835,419,052.27. It is divided into a total of 324,109,563 ordinary bearer shares (proportional value of the share capital: €828,572,941, circa 99.18 per cent) as well as 2,677,966 preference bearer shares (proportional value of the share capital: €6,846,111, circa 0.82 per cent). The proportional value per share amounts to about €2.56.
“(1) Holders of non-voting preference shares will receive from the annual balance sheet profi a preference dividend of €0.17 per preference share.
To the knowledge of the Management Board, the following agreements exist or existed during financial year 2015/16. These agreements can be regarded as restrictions in the sense of § 315 Section 4 No. 2 and § 289 Section 4 No. 2 of the German Commercial Code:
A pooling agreement exists among Beisheim Capital GmbH, Düsseldorf, Germany, and Beisheim Holding GmbH, Baar, Switzerland, which includes the METRO AG shares held by Beisheim Capital GmbH and Beisheim Holding GmbH.
In preparation of the demerger of METRO AG, each of the three major shareholders of METRO AG – the Haniel shareholder group, the Schmidt-Ruthenbeck shareholder group and the Beisheim shareholder group – has entered into temporary lock-up agreements at normal market conditions with METRO AG for its shares in METRO AG and for the shares in the acquiring entity which the major shareholders of METRO AG will receive in the context of the demerger. In addition, METRO AG’s major shareholders have agreed to certain other restrictions on the sale of shares.
In addition, legal restrictions on voting rights may exist, for example in the sense of § 136 of the German Stock Corporation Act or, insofar as the company holds own shares, in the sense of § 71 b of the German Stock Corporation Act.
Notifications of voting rights published by METRO AG can be found on the website in the section Investor Relations – Legal Announcements.
in the event of capital increases in exchange for cash capital contributions if the aggregate par value of such capital increases does not exceed 10 per cent of the company’s share capital and the issue price of the new shares is not substantially lower than the stock exchange price of existing shares of the same class. The limit of 10 per cent of the company’s share capital is diminished by the share of the share capital represented by the company’s own shares which are (i) used as own shares or sold during the term of authorised capital while excluding subscription rights in analogous application of § 186 Section 3 Sentence 4 of the German Stock Corporation Act or (ii) issued from contingent capital to service warrant and convertible bearer bonds which, in turn, have been or are issued while excluding subscription rights in analogous application of § 186 Section 3 Sentence 4 of the German Stock Corporation Act. Once a new authorisation for the exclusion of shareholder subscription rights issued by the Annual General Meeting pursuant to § 186 Section 3 Sentence 4 of the German Stock Corporation Act has become effective, the limit diminished in accordance with the above sentence is raised again to the extent of the new authorisation, but to a maximum of 10 per cent of the share capital.
The Management Board is authorised, with the consent of the Supervisory Board, to define further details of the capital increases. To date, the authorised capital I has not been used. No concrete plans as to the utilisation of this authorisation exist.
The Management Board is also authorised to entirely exclude, in each case with the consent of the Supervisory Board, shareholder subscription rights to bonds issued in exchange for cash payment carrying warrant or conversion rights or obligations insofar as the Management Board concludes, after careful review, that the issue price of the bonds is not substantially lower than the hypothetical market value ascertained using recognised financial mathematical methods. This authorisation to exclude subscription rights applies for bonds which are issued with warrant or conversion rights or obligations to ordinary shares comprising no more than 10 per cent of the share capital at the time the authorisation takes effect or – if this value is lower – at the time the authorisation is exercised. The limit of 10 per cent of the share capital is reduced by the pro rata amount of share capital represented by any shares issued (i) during the effective period of this authorisation under exclusion of subscription rights according to § 186 Section 3 Sentence 4 of the German Stock Corporation Act, or (ii) to service warrant or convertible bonds providing for warrant or conversion rights or obligations, insofar as such bonds were issued during the effective period of this authorisation under exclusion of subscription rights by application of § 186 Section 3 Sentence 4 of the German Stock Corporation Act mutatis mutandis.
In the case of bonds carrying warrant or conversion rights or warrant or conversion obligations, the warrant or conversion price may be adjusted after closer determination in order to preserve the value of such warrant or conversion rights or warrant or conversion obligations in the event their economic value is diluted, to the extent that such an adjustment is not already provided for by law. The terms of the bonds may also provide for an adjustment of warrant or conversion rights or warrant or conversion obligations in case of a capital reduction or other extraordinary measures or events (for example, unusually high dividends, acquisition of control by third parties). In case of the acquisition of control by third parties, the terms of the bonds may provide for adjustment of the warrant or conversion price in accordance with typical market terms. Furthermore, the terms of the bonds may provide for a variable conversion ratio and/or variable warrant and conversion price, whereby the warrant or conversion price is determined within a range to be set based on the development of the share price during the term. The minimum issue price based on the stipulations of § 4 Section 8 of METRO AG’s Articles of Association may not be undercut.
The company is authorised to buy back its own shares in accordance with § 71 of the German Stock Corporation Act. On the basis of § 71 Section 1 No. 8 of the German Stock Corporation Act, the Annual General Meeting decided on 20 February 2015 to authorise the company to acquire shares of the company of any share class on or before 19 February 2020. The authorisation is limited to the acquisition of shares collectively representing a maximum of 10 per cent of the share capital issued as of the date the Annual General Meeting resolution is passed or – if this value is lower – at the time the authorisation is exercised. The shares transferred based upon this authorisation, together with any own shares acquired for other reasons held by the company or assigned to it in accordance with §§ 71 a ff. of the German Stock Corporation Act, shall collectively not exceed a pro rata amount of 10 per cent of the share capital at any time.
Delivery of shares to holders of warrant or convertible bonds of the company or its affiliates, in accordance with § 18 of the German Stock Corporation Act under the terms and conditions applicable to such warrant or convertible bonds; this also applies to the delivery of shares based upon the exercise of subscription rights, which in the event of a sale of company shares through an offer to all shareholders or in the event of a capital increase with subscription rights may be granted to holders of warrant or convertible bonds of the company or any of its affiliates in accordance with § 18 of the German Stock Corporation Act to the same extent that holders of such warrant or convertible bonds would have subscription rights for shares of the company after exercising the warrant or conversion rights or performing the warrant or conversion obligations. The shares transferred based upon this authorisation shall collectively not exceed a pro rata amount of 10 per cent of the share capital at the time the authorisation takes effect or – if this value is lower – at the time the authorisation is exercised, insofar as such shares were issued to service warrant or conversion rights or obligations granted or imposed in application of § 186 Section 3 Sentence 4 of the German Stock Corporation Act mutatis mutandis. The limit of 10 per cent of the share capital is reduced by the pro rata amount of share capital represented by any shares issued or sold during the effective period of this authorisation by application of § 186 Section 3 Sentence 4 of the German Stock Corporation Act mutatis mutandis;
The Management Board is authorised to exclude shareholder subscription rights for residual amounts if company shares are used according to the authorisation to sell own shares by offer to all shareholders in compliance with the principle of equal treatment (Gleichbehandlungsgrundsatz, § 53 a of the German Stock Corporation Act). In addition, the Management Board is authorised to exclude shareholder subscription rights if company shares are used for dividend payments in form of a scrip dividend.
On 20 February 2015, the Management Board was also authorised by the Annual General Meeting to acquire shares under this authorisation also by use of put or call options or futures (hereinafter: futures) or a combination thereof (hereinafter: derivatives). The acquisition of shares using derivatives is limited to shares collectively representing a maximum of 5 per cent of the share capital issued as of the date the Annual General Meeting resolution is passed or – if this value is lower – at the time the authorisation is exercised. The derivative’s term of maturity must be chosen such that the acquisition of shares using derivatives does not take place after 19 February 2020. The derivatives contracts must be concluded with one or several credit institution(s) that are independent of METRO AG and/or one or several companies meeting the requirements of § 53 Section 1 Sentence 1 or § 53 b Section 1 Sentence 1 or Section 7 of the German Banking Act (KWG). They must be designed to ensure that the derivatives are serviced only with shares that were purchased in compliance with the equal treatment principle (§ 53 a of the German Stock Corporation Act); this requirement is met by the purchase of shares on a stock exchange.
Fundamental agreements related to the conditions of a takeover (§ 315 Section 4 No. 8 and § 289 Section 4 No. 8 of the German Commercial Code)
As a borrower, METRO AG is currently party to two syndicated loan agreements that the lender may cancel in the case of a change of control insofar as the credit rating of METRO AG drops in a way stipulated in the contract as a result of the change of control. The requirements of a change of control are, first, that the shareholders who controlled METRO AG at the time at which each contract was signed lose control over METRO AG. The second requirement is the assumption of control of METRO AG by one or several parties. The lending banks may cancel the contract and demand the return of the loan only if the change of control and a resulting drop in the credit rating occur cumulatively. The regulations as described here are common market practice and serve the purpose of creditor protection. In financial year 2015/16, these loans were not drawn.
Outlookprevious pageSupplementary notes METRO AGnext page