Ekosem-Agrar GmbH invites bondholders to second vote

• First votes without meeting, as expected, had no quorum
• Second bondholders’ meetings on 16 and 17 March 2016

Walldorf, 19 February 2016 – The management of Ekosem-Agrar GmbH, the German holding company of Russian milk producer Ekoniva Group, announces that less than 50 percent of the outstanding bond capital participated in the votes without meeting (as defined in section 18 SchVG) of the holders of the Ekosem-Agrar Bond 2012/2017 (ISIN: DE000A1MLSJ1) and the Ekosem-Agrar Bond 2012/2018 (ISIN: DE000A1R0RZ5), respectively. Therefore, these votes had no quorum.

The votes of the holders of both bonds took place between 16 February 2016 (0:00 h) and 19 February 2016 (8:00 h). Bondholders representing 20 percent (rounded) of the outstanding bonds in the total nominal amount of EUR 50,000,000.00 participated in the vote of the holders of the 2012/2017 Bond. The most important item on the agenda (No. 1 Extension of the bond) was approved by more than 90 percent. Bondholders representing 17 percent (rounded) of the outstanding bonds in the total nominal amount of EUR 78,000,000.00 participated in the vote of the holders of the 2012/2018 Bond. Agenda item 1 was approved by more than 95 percent.

Due to the insufficient participation in the votes, second bondholders meetings will be held for both bonds in the form of physical meetings in order to adopt a resolution. These meetings require a lower quorum of 25 percent of the outstanding bonds. The meeting of the holders of the 2012/2017 Bond and the 2012/2018 Bond will be held in Wiesloch (near Walldorf) on 16 March 2016 and 17 March 2016, respectively. The invitations to these meetings will be published in the Federal Gazette presumably on 22 February 2016.

Says Wolfgang Bläsi, Managing Director and CFO of Ekosem-Agrar GmbH: “Since we announced our plans to extend the bonds in January, we have talked to almost 200 institutional and private investors, who gave us a lot of positive feedback. This is reflected in the high percentage of bondholders who voted in favour of the extension in the first votes. We believe that the fact that the 50 percent quorum was not reached – which, incidentally, was the case in nearly all such votes known in the market – is primarily attributable to the complex voting procedure and the information barrier for foreign investors. The procedure for the upcoming second bondholders’ meetings will be simplified. Moreover, bondholders will have the possibility to appoint a proxy to vote on their behalf. We are therefore very confident that the necessary majority of the bondholders will vote in favour of our plans at the physical meetings, for which a 25 percent quorum is required.”

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