Schmolz + Bickenbach

All,

Schmolz+Bickenbach:

- So the family did not participate in the rights issue, which resulted in Martin Haefner’s stake ballooning to 44.9%. 

- Thus the CoC clause has been triggered and the company will tender at 101 in the coming weeks.

- Note that several law suites (also from the families) have been brought (as usual), amongst other things targeting the fact that the restructuring exemption had been provided apparently without the necessary documentation (restructuring opinion) in place.

- We had been reluctant to buy the bonds as we felt the upside/downside potential was unattractive. A number of scenarios resulted in a no-trigger - even no-deal scenario, in which case we’ have been weary of the downside.

- We remain positive on the shares, but chose to wait for the price to cool off and potentially for the next quarterly figures too.

Wolfgang