Business performance in the Group

The KION Group was able to realise the first joint small-scale projects between Industrial Trucks & Services and Dematic in the field of warehouse automation during the first half of 2017. As the integration continues, the focus in terms of technology will be on enhancing the Dematic iQ software platform. Furthermore, Egemin Automation and Retrotech Inc. are to be fully integrated into Dematic by the end of 2017. Now that it includes Dematic and Egemin, KION is one of the largest suppliers of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in the market.

In addition, KION’s Stříbro site in the Czech Republic is being expanded to include a new plant for Dematic’s automated conveyor systems. The contract with the building contractor was signed in March 2017. With an investment volume of some €7 million, the new factory is to manufacture multi-shuttles and modular conveyor systems – modules for automated material handling, storage and retrieval systems – specifically for the European market starting from 2018.

The bridge loan (acquisition facilities agreement, AFA) agreed between the KION Group and its core group of banks for the acquisition of Dematic originally had a volume of €3,000.0 million and was drawn down in an amount of €2,543.2 million. In the first quarter of 2017, it was then partly refinanced by a promissory note with a total volume of €1,010.0 million. This note, which has a significantly extended maturity profile, is divided into several tranches that have maturity periods of five, seven and ten years and have fixed and floating-rate coupons. The capital increase in the second quarter of 2017 was another important refinancing measure. This involved KION GROUP AG issuing a total of 9,300,000 n ew shares at a placement price of €64.83 per share on 22 May 2017. All of the new shares were placed with institutional investors against cash contributions in an accelerated bookbuilding process; the shareholders’ subscription right was excluded. The Company’s share capital rose by 8.55 per cent in total. The gross proceeds from the capital increase came to €602.9 million. The Company’s new no-par-value bearer shares are dividend-bearing from the 2017 financial year.

Following the repayment in full of tranches A2 and B of the bridge loan using the proceeds from the two financing measures, there is still a long-term tranche of €1,000.0 million under the bridge loan that is payable in October 2021.