- 445,000 shares held by institutional investor now floated
- Free float rises from 31.3% to 38.5%
Freudenstadt, 1st February 2005. schlott gruppe Aktiengesellschaft has been informed by Deutsche Beteiligungs AG that the sale of 445,000 shares in schlott gruppe AG previously held by Deutsche Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Fonds I KG, an investment fund managed by Deutsche Beteiligungs AG, has now been executed. The shares were floated to the general public; none of the new shareholders acquired more than 1% of the total shares outstanding of schlott gruppe as part of this transac-tion. A number of private investors purchased shares for their personal portfolios.
The transaction was supported by schlott gruppe from the outset. Member of the Management Board Dr. Uwe Hack pointed to the stimulus of this transaction for the capital market: “We are proud to have been able to implement this transaction in close cooperation with one of our principal shareholders by floating a large number of shares to the general public at the prevailing market price without affecting our share performance. The high level of demand for our shares shows beyond doubt that investor interest in schlott gruppe as one of the largest European providers of printing and direct marketing services has grown substantially.”Deutsche Beteiligungs AG has been accompanying schlott gruppe as an investor since the MBO of the latter in 1992, via its direct investment in the company and its fund “Deutsche Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Fonds I KG”. Deutsche Beteiligungs AG continues to hold an interest of 13.9%. Following the disposal of schlott gruppe shares previously held by the investment fund, the free float associated with schlott gruppe’s shares has risen to 2.38 million shares, i.e. 38.5% of the 6,190,020 shares outstanding, reported in accordance with the disclo-sure rules of the German Corporate Governance Code.
