Business performance

On 18 July 2016, the KION Group successfully completed the capital increase resolved upon that same day. The existing authorised capital was used in full and the Company’s share capital was increased by 10.0 per cent against cash contributions; shareholders’ subsription rights were excluded. All of the 9,890,000 new shares were placed at a price of €46.44 each, which was set in an accelerated bookbuilding offering for institutional investors. The anchor shareholder Weichai Power acquired 5,934,000, or 60.0 per cent, of the new shares, increasing its stake in the Company to 40.2 per cent. The remaining shares were offered to institutional investors as part of the accelerated bookbuilding offering.

The gross issue proceeds of approximately €459.3 million are to be used to partly fund the acquisition of automation specialist Dematic. Completion of the acquisition is subject to the usual conditions and is likely to take place during the fourth quarter of 2016. The provisional purchase price for the shares is the equivalent of around €1.9 billion. In addition, debt instruments will be redeemed. The transaction will initially be funded by a bridge loan that has been firmly committed.

On 8 July 2016, Linde Material Handling opened a new distribution centre for spare parts in Brno, Czech Republic. Linde Material Handling is thereby also expanding its service presence in central and eastern European countries that are experiencing high growth.

STILL acquired its Norwegian dealer Roara AS on 1 September 2016, thereby strengthening its market position in Scandinavia. All of the company’s activities here will operate under the name STILL Norge in future.