Shareholder structure of METRO AG
The shareholder structure has changed in comparison to 30 September 2017 in financial year 2017/18. As at 22 November 2018, the largest shareholders of METRO AG were the indirect shareholders Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH (15.20% of voting rights), Meridian Stiftung (14.19%), EP Global Commerce (10.91%), Beisheim Holding GmbH (6.56%), and CECONOMY AG (6.39%). According to the notifications of voting rights pursuant to the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), these 5 shareholders currently hold a total of 53.23% of voting rights.
This new structure is the result of multiple notifications of voting rights, which were presented to METRO AG before the publication of its annual report. On 24 August 2018, Daniel Křetínský and Patrik Tkáč notified METRO that they had acquired a claim to transfer 7.3% of shares from Haniel Finance Deutschland GmbH, a fully owned subsidiary of Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH (Haniel), and a call option for an additional 15.2% of the voting rights, in both cases via the partnership EP Global Commerce GmbH (EPGC II) with registered office in Munich. On 20 September 2018, Daniel Křetínský and Patrik Tkáč notified METRO that they had acquired a claim to transfer 3.61% of voting rights from CECONOMY AG and a call option for an additional 5.39% of the voting rights, in both cases via the partnership EP Global Commerce II GmbH (EPGC) with registered office in Munich. EPGC II is also the obligor of a put option on the part of CECONOMY AG concerning the voting rights in METRO AG that are covered by the call option. On 27 September 2018, 3.61% of the ordinary shares of METRO AG were transferred from CECONOMY AG to EPGC II, which resulted in CECONOMY AG reducing its interest to 6.39% of ordinary shares in METRO AG.
Haniel notified METRO on 4 October 2018 that it now holds 15.2% of voting rights. On 4 October 2018, Daniel Křetínský and Patrik Tkáč served a notification of voting rights and notified METRO that they now hold 10.91% of voting rights in METRO AG via the EPGC and EPGC II partnerships in addition to financial instruments entitling them to the transfer of a further 20.59% of voting rights.
46.76% of METRO AG shares are free-floating and held by a number of national and international investors. The shareholder structure reflects the international distribution of the share capital: Around 12% of shares are held by investors from North America, followed by investors from the United Kingdom and Ireland with 10%, Europe (excluding Germany and UK/Ireland) with 8.5% and Germany with 7.3%.
The largest institutional shareholders are J O Hambro Capital Management Limited with registered office in London (United Kingdom) holding 3.73% and Axxion S.A. with registered office in Grevenmacher (Luxembourg) holding 3.04%. The 10 largest institutional investors hold around 18% of the free-floating shares.
Shareholder structure1
1 At the time of preparation of the annual financial statement.
The information above is in particular based on notifications issued under §§ 21 ff. of the German Securities Trading Act that were received and published by METRO AG.