Coca-Cola HBC AG
Commencement of share purchase programme
Zug, Switzerland – 3 December 2018 – Coca-Cola HBC AG ("Company") announces that it will commence today a share purchase programme for up to 7,500,000 of its ordinary shares of 6.70 CHF each ("ordinary shares") in the capital of the Company ("Share Purchase Programme").
Any purchases of its ordinary shares done in connection with this announcement will be carried out on the London Stock Exchange and will take place within the limitations of the authority granted by the annual general meeting held on 11 June 2018. Share purchases will be conducted in accordance with Chapter 12 of the UK Listing Rules and within the parameters prescribed by Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 ("Market Abuse Regulation").
The purpose of the Share Purchase Programme is to (i) avoid dilution resulting from the issue of stock options; and (ii) meet the requirements of the Company's employee incentive scheme. The majority of the repurchased ordinary shares are intended to be cancelled upon receiving approval from the Company's shareholders and subsequent implementation of a capital decrease. The repurchased ordinary shares will be held in treasury until these are either awarded to employees under the Company's employee incentive scheme or the respective capital reduction is implemented.
The maximum amount allocated to the Share Purchase Programme is GBP 225 million and the maximum number of ordinary shares that will be purchased is 7,500,000. The Share Purchase Programme will end no later than the expiry of the authority granted by the annual general meeting held on 11 June 2018. This authority expires at the latest on 30 June 2019 or, if earlier, the date of the Company's next annual general meeting in 2019.
The Company has instructed Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited ("Credit Suisse") to conduct the Share Purchase Programme on its behalf.
This announcement is made in accordance with the Market Abuse Regulation.
