DGAP-News: Balda AG: Planned assumption of power by shareholder elector is meeting with widespread criticism and rejection

03.07.2013

DGAP-News: Balda AG / Key word(s): AGM/EGM

Balda AG: Planned assumption of power by shareholder elector is

meeting with widespread criticism and rejection

03.07.2013 / 10:19

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– Private investor protection organizations SdK and DSW and institutional

shareholder service providers ISS and IVOX reject complete replacement

of the Supervisory Board with Elector candidates.

– Numerous individual investors are also against the shareholder’s

proposals to the extraordinary General Meeting.

– The Management Board and Supervisory Board repeat the call to

shareholders to exercise their voting rights.

Bad Oeynhausen, 3 July 2013 – The attempt by Balda shareholder Elector

GmbH, Berlin, to fill the three seats on the company’s Supervisory Board

completely with its own candidates at an extraordinary General Meeting on

18 July 2013 is meeting with widespread criticism and rejection among

investor representatives and many other shareholders of the company.

Four organizations representing shareholders have voted to reject the

complete restaffing of the supervisory body. Criticism is leveled

especially at the lack of clarity about the strategic intentions and plans

of the shareholder, which holds 29.9% of Balda AG’s share capital,

according to the shareholder’s own information.

In addition, the company has since received instructions from more than 100

Balda shareholders rejecting Elector GmbH’s plan.

As of now, the following votes have been received from specific investor

representatives and shareholder service providers:

– Investor service provider IVOX rejects all of the resolutions proposed

by Elector on the agenda. The shareholder’s plan ‘is in no way

compatible with (.) good corporate governance’ and ‘cannot be in the

interests of all shareholders’. ‘At the moment, there is no reason to

change the current composition of the Supervisory Board,’ continued

IVOX. In contrast, Elector appears ‘to be pursuing its own interests

exclusively,’ although the shareholder has not yet revealed these

publicly.

– The internationally active, US-based investment decision advisor ISS

argues that it cannot support Elector’s attempt to gain control over

the Supervisory Board, particularly because the strategic intentions of

Elector are not known. ISS is therefore in favor of supporting election

of only one of the three Elector candidates.

– Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger e.V. (SdK) has announced that it

will vote against all of Elector GmbH’s proposed resolutions. SdK also

criticizes the fact that Elector has not answered questions regarding

its desired strategic direction for the Balda Group. It fears ‘that

particularly Balda AG’s considerable resources resulting from the sale

of the shares of TPK, Taiwan, may be earmarked for different future

activities.’ In view of the business activities to date of the Managing

Director of Elector GmbH, Dr. Thomas van Aubel, it can be assumed ‘that

a realignment of Balda AG focusing on the solar industry and renewable

energies is the aim,’ stated SdK further.

– Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz e.V. (DSW) considers

‘appropriate representation’ of the shareholder on the Supervisory

Board to be legitimate. The complete replacement of the board with its

own candidates, however, is ‘not appropriate’.

A few days ago, Balda AG set up an online tool on its website that

shareholders can use to simply and easily exercise their voting rights

without having to travel to Berlin, the site of the extraordinary General

Meeting.

The Management and Supervisory Boards of Balda AG repeat their call to

shareholders to exercise their voting rights or issue corresponding voting

instructions. Since the core issue at the extraordinary General Meeting is

the fundamental future direction of the Balda Group, they believe it would

be desirable to have as many shareholders as possible participating in the

decision.

For more information, see www.balda-group.com..

Contact:

Frank Elsner

Frank Elsner Kommunikation für Unternehmen GmbH

Tel.: +49 – 54 04 – 91 92 0

Fax: +49 – 54 04 – 91 92 29

Mail:office@elsner-kommunikation.de

About Balda

Balda is a provider of first-class solutions for demanding, high-quality

applications in the fields of medical technology, optics, the automotive

industry and other specialist industrial sectors. The Group’s Balda Medical

and Balda Technical operating divisions have operations worldwide, and the

company maintains production facilities in Germany and the USA. The success

of Balda, which employs around 1,000 people, is based on the deployment of

leading-edge, cost-effective technologies, coupled with the trust-based

collaboration with customers. The Balda AG share (ISIN: DE0005215107) is

listed on the SDAX segment of Deutsche Börse.

www.balda-group.com

www.balda-medical-group.com

End of Corporate News

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03.07.2013 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a

company of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

DGAP’s Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements,

Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de

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Language: English

Company: Balda AG

Bergkirchener Str. 228

32549 Bad Oeynhausen

Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 57 34 / 9 22-0

Fax: +49 (0) 57 34 / 9 22-2604

E-mail: info@Balda.de

Internet: www.balda.de

ISIN: DE0005215107

WKN: 521510

Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard);

Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover,

München, Stuttgart

End of News DGAP News-Service

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