Elcoteq SE Stock Exchange Release March 31, 2010 at 08:30 am (EET) Elcoteq SE has agreed on an extension to its EUR 100 million revolving credit facility until June 30, 2011. In addition, to enhance possibilities for further balance sheet strengthening, the K shares of the Company will be converted into A shares resulting in only one series of shares in the Company. At the same time Mr. Antti Piippo, BSc (Eng.), D.Sc. (Tech) h.c., and Mr. Henry Sjöman, BSc, the founder- shareholders of Elcoteq as well as Mr. Juha Toivola, MSc, an independent board member of Elcoteq have announced that they will not be available for re-election as Board Members. Mr. Jorma Vanhanen, MSc, the third founder-shareholder, and all other independent board members (President Martti Ahtisaari, Mr. Heikki Horstia, BSc, Mr. Eero Kasanen, DBA, Professor, Executive Dean, Aalto University School of Economics, and Mr. François Pauly, MBA, General Manager of Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie S.C.A) have announced their availability for re-election to the Board. In addition, the Board will be strengthened by two independent board members to be proposed to the Annual General Meeting. The Company continues to explore further ways to strengthen its balance sheet through equity and long-term financing arrangements. Furthermore, the Company will arrange a rights issue during 2010. The three founder shareholders have undertaken to support such balance sheet strengthening arrangements in shareholders' meetings. EUR 100 million revolving credit facility Elcoteq and the lenders of its EUR 100 million revolving credit facility have agreed on extending the facility from April 30, 2010 until June 30, 2011. The agreed facility will be amortized by EUR 33 million by March 31, 2011. The parties have signed a committed term sheet for the extended facility and aim at finalizing the loan documentation during April 2010. At the balance sheet date of December 31, 2009, EUR 100 million of the facility was in use. At the same time the Company had EUR 87 million in cash. The extension of the revolving credit facility is an important step in the overall financial stabilization of the Company. As communicated earlier, the Company issued hybrid securities of an aggregate nominal amount of EUR 29 million on January 27, 2010 and used the proceeds of the hybrid securities to redeem in an aggregate nominal amount of EUR 105 million of debenture bonds at 25% of their nominal value. Had these actions taken place in December 2009, the Company's solvency would have been 23.7% and gearing 0.7 on December 31, 2009. Share series harmonization The three founder shareholders of the company, Mr. Antti Piippo, Mr. Henry Sjöman and Mr. Jorma Vanhanen, have informed the Board of Directors that they will exercise their right to convert all of their series K founders´ shares to series A shares in accordance with the provisions set out in the Articles of Association of Elcoteq. The conversion takes place at a ratio of ten series K founders´ shares to one series A share. Mr. Piippo, Mr. Sjöman and Mr. Vanhanen hold currently altogether 105,770,000 series K founders´ shares. After the conversion they will hold in total 13,490,237 series A shares of which 2,913,237 are series A shares which they currently hold. The conversion does not affect the ownership structure of the company, and Mr. Piippo, Mr. Sjöman and Mr. Vanhanen continue to have 41.38% ownership in the Company. However, the conversion will affect the voting structure of the Company, reducing the total voting share of Mr. Piippo, Mr. Sjöman and Mr. Vanhanen from the current 84.81% to 41.38%. The conversion is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2010. Further Strengthening of the Balance Sheet Elcoteq continues to focus on further strengthening its balance sheet through equity related transactions and long-term financing arrangements in 2010. The Company is currently preparing an exchange offer containing both hybrid loan and other equity linked instrument for the holders of its remaining outstanding debentures in an aggregate nominal amount of approximately EUR 35 million. Furthermore, the Company will arrange a rights issue during 2010. ELCOTEQ SE Satu Jaatinen Communications Manager Further information: Jouni Hartikainen, President and CEO, +358 10 413 11 Mikko Puolakka, CFO, tel. +358 10 413 1287 About Elcoteq Elcoteq SE is the global Life Cycle Service Partner for high-tech product and service companies. Engineering, Manufacturing, Fulfillment and After Market Services are the cornerstones of Elcoteq's extensive service offering. Elcoteq has a proven track record in electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and a global factory network coupled with modern manufacturing equipment and consistent systems and processes. Products include Consumer Electronics devices such as mobile phones and their accessories, set-top boxes, flat panel TVs as well as System Solutions products such as infrastructure systems, modules and other industrial segment products. The Group's consolidated net sales for 2008 totaled 3.4 billion euros and it employs approximately 11,000 persons. Elcoteq SE is listed on the Nasdaq OMX Helsinki Ltd. For more information visit the Elcoteq website at www.elcoteq.com [HUG#1399546]
Elcoteq Proceeds in Stabilizing Its Financing Structure, Harmonizes Its Share Series and Makes Changes to The Composition of The Board of Directors
| Source: Elcoteq