The Annual General Meeting on 12 May 2016 authorised the Company, in the period up to 11 May 2021, to acquire for treasury up to 10 per cent of all the shares in issue at the time of the resolution or in issue on the date the authorisation is exercised, whichever is the lower. Together with other treasury shares in the possession of the Company or deemed to be in its possession pursuant to section 71a et seq. AktG, the treasury shares bought as a result of this authorisation must not exceed 10 per cent of the Company’s share capital at any time. The Company may sell the purchased treasury shares through a stock exchange or by means of an offer to all shareholders. It may also sell the shares in return for a non-cash consideration, in particular in connection with the acquisition of a business, parts of a business or equity investments. In addition, the treasury shares may be offered to employees of the Company or of an affiliated company as part of an employee share ownership programme. The treasury shares can also be retired. Share buyback for trading purposes is prohibited. The authorisation may be exercised on one or more occasions, for the entire amount or for partial amounts, in pursuit of one or more aims, by the Company, by a Group company or by third parties for the account of the Company or the account of a Group company. At the discretion of the Executive Board, the shares may be purchased through the stock exchange, by way of a public purchase offer made to all shareholders or by way of a public invitation to shareholders to tender their shares. The authorisation to acquire shares for treasury, which existed until the adoption of a resolution on 12 May 2016 and had been granted by the Extraordinary General Meeting on 13 June 2013, was cancelled by the resolution on 12 May 2016.
In 2016, the Company made use of the authorisation granted on 12 May 2016 by the Annual General Meeting, purchasing 50,000 shares in the period 12 September to 27 September 2016. During the reporting year, 45,564 of the shares acquired that were still in treasury were used as part of the KEEP Employee Equity Programme for the employees of the Company and certain Group companies.
- On the basis of a resolution of the Company’s Annual General Meeting on 19 May 2014, the Executive Board was authorised, subject to the consent of the Supervisory Board, to increase the Company’s share capital by up to €9.89 million by issuing up to 9.89 million new no-par-value ordinary bearer shares for cash and / or non-cash contributions up to and including 18 May 2019 (2014 Authorised Capital).
Based on resolutions of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board dated 18 July 2016, the 2014 Authorised Capital was used in full; shareholders’ pre-emption rights were disapplied. The capital increase was entered in the commercial register on 20 July 2016. As part of this capital increase, the Company’s share capital was increased from €98.9 million to €108.79 million, a rise of €9.89 million, as a result of issuing 9.89 million new no-par-value bearer shares. Consequently, the Executive Board currently has no further authorisation from the Annual General Meeting to increase the Company’s share capital.
- On the basis of a resolution of the Annual General Meeting on 19 May 2014, the Executive Board was also authorised, in the period up to and including 18 May 2019, to issue convertible bonds, warrant-linked bonds, profit-sharing rights and / or income bonds with or without conversion rights, warrants, mandatory conversion requirements or option obligations, or any combinations of these instruments (referred to jointly as ‘debt instruments’) for a total par value of up to €800 million, and to grant conversion rights and / or warrants to – and / or to impose mandatory conversion requirements or option obligations on – the holders / beneficial owners of debt instruments to acquire up to 9.89 million new shares of KION GROUP AG with a pro-rata amount of the share capital of up to €9.89 million (‘2014 Authorisation’). The 2014 Conditional Capital of €9.89 million was created to service the debt instruments. The 2014 authorisation has not been used so far.
The 2014 Conditional Capital will be reduced by, among other things, the portion of the share capital attributable to shares issued on the basis of the 2014 Authorised Capital. As part of the capital increase in July 2016, 9.89 million new shares were issued on the basis of the 2014 Authorised Capital. Consequently, no more conditional capital is available on the basis of which the Executive Board would be able to issue shares.