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| Restructuring of Financing |
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| Significant milestone achieved in the restructuring of the corporate financing of Carl Zeiss Vision | RTF Documents
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Deutsche Version
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| OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 20.08.2010. The required majority of creditors of Carl Zeiss Vision have approved the proposal of the company and the two owners — Carl Zeiss AG and the private equity firm EQT — for the restructuring of the eyeglass lens manufacturer’s corporate financing. For the agreement to become effective, a majority of at least two-thirds of the lending banks with voting rights was necessary. This requirement has now been comfortably met. “We are pleased at the very positive reaction of the banks to this offer,” said Dr. Dieter Kurz, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss AG. “This means that we now have a good starting situation for the future of Carl Zeiss Vision.” As part of the new corporate financing, Carl Zeiss AG will become a majority shareholder in Carl Zeiss Vision. The agreement provides for an injection of equity totaling a sum in three-digit millions of euros by Carl Zeiss AG. This includes the purchase of current loans by Carl Zeiss AG and their conversion into equity. The talks with the bank consortium for the restructuring of the corporate financing of Carl Zeiss Vision were necessary because, with the certified financial statements for fiscal year 2008/09, individual covenants of the current credit agreements had been breached. However, capital and interest payments were made on a regular basis; there were no defaults on payment. The restructuring of the corporate financing will become effective in the balance sheets of Carl Zeiss Vision and Carl Zeiss AG in fiscal year 2010/11. “We are strategically investing in a company that excellently supplements our portfolio,” said Dr. Kurz. “Carl Zeiss Vision is a leading brand in the global eyeglass market — especially on the growth markets in Asia.” The chief negotiator for Carl Zeiss AG in the bank negotiations, Dr. Michael Kaschke, Member of the Carl Zeiss AG Executive Board and President and CEO from 1 January 2011, emphasized: “We set long-term sustainability as our top goal in the talks and were therefore able to achieve a good and future-proof result for all parties involved. The approval by the banks has confirmed our strategy. With the financial strength of the Carl Zeiss Group, we can finance the required investments through our own efforts. We firmly believe in the major potential offered by Carl Zeiss Vision. Due to the extremely broad approval obtained, we will shortly be consulting with our Supervisory Board on the purchase of the oversubscribed portion of the cash offer.” Jörg Nitschke Senior Vice President Corporate Communications Carl Zeiss AG Phone: +49 7364 20-3242 Fax: +49 7364 20-3122 E-Mail: 
j.nitschke@zeiss.deNumber: 0151-2010-ENG CC Number of Words: 468 Number of Characters: 3437 |
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