Castle Private Equity: Termination of the share buyback programme on the second trading line and issuance of tradeable put options Dienstag, 30. Mai 2017 - 06:43

Today the Board of Directors of Castle Private Equity Ltd. has decided to terminate on 31 May 2017 the current share buyback programme on a second trading line on the SIX Swiss Exchange, which started on 5 July 2016. With the end of the programme, 1,690,788 shares will probably be bought back. Together with the completed buyback programme through the issuance of put options in July 2016, the maximum number of registered shares approved by shareholders at the AGM held on 11 May 2016 will probably be nearly reached. The buybacks mentioned before were done for cancellation purposes.

Furthermore, the Board of Directors has decided to issue put options tradeable on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Each shareholder will be granted 1 put option free of charge for each registered share held. Every 20 put options will entitle shareholders to tender one registered share with a nominal value of CHF 5 at the exercise price of CHF 18.15. This represents a premium of approximately 10% to today's closing price of the registered share. The put options will be traded from 1 June 2017 to and including 19 June 2017. The put options must be exercised on 21 June 2017 (European style) by 11.00 a.m. CET at the latest. The net purchase price (exercise price minus 35% withholding tax calculated on the difference between the exercise price and the nominal value) will be paid on 22 June 2017.

As a result of the share buyback by issuing put options, Castle Private Equity Ltd. plans to repurchase up to 1,308,641 registered shares (4.48% of the outstanding share capital). It is intended to seek approval for the cancellation of all registered shares repurchased at the Annual General Meeting in 2018. Castle Private Equity Ltd. has mandated Zürcher Kantonalbank as Lead Manager of the transaction.

When considering whether to sell the put options on the stock exchange or to use them to tender registered shares, shareholders are advised to follow the instructions and recommendations of their custodian bank or other professional advisers.

In addition, the Board of Directors of Castle Private Equity Ltd. is considering launching a new share buyback programme on a second trading line following the share buyback programme through the issuance of tradeable put options.

The offering notice will be available under www.castlepe.com.