Unless expressly permitted by law, Munich Reinsurance Company requires the
authorisation of the Annual General Meeting to buy back shares. As the authorisation
granted on 22 April 2009 expires in October 2010, it will be proposed to the
Annual General Meeting that the Company be again authorised to buy back own
shares. Since the German Act Implementing the Shareholders’ Rights Directive
came into force on 1 September 2009, the authorisation may now be granted – as
in the case with authorisations for capital increases – for a period of up to five
years.
The Supervisory Board and the Board of Management propose that the following
resolutions be adopted:
a) The Company shall be authorised to buy back shares up to a total amount of
10% of the share capital at the time the resolution is adopted. If at the time this
authorisation is first exercised the existing share capital is lower, that amount
shall be deemed material. The authorisation may be exercised as a whole or in
part amounts, on one or more occasions and for one or more purposes by the
Company, but also by dependent Group companies or enterprises in which the
Company has a majority shareholding, or by third parties for its or their account.
The shares acquired plus other own shares in the possession of the Company or
attributable to the Company in accordance with Section 71a ff. of the German
Stock Companies Act may at no time amount to more than 10% of the share
capital. The authorisation may not be used for trading in own shares.
b) The shares shall be acquired at the discretion of the Board of Management
aa) via the stock exchange or bb) via a public purchase offer to all shareholders
or cc) via a solicitation to all shareholders to submit sales offers (request to sell)
or dd) via a public offer to all shareholders to exchange Munich Re shares for
shares in another listed company as defined in Section 3 para. 2 of the German
Stock Companies Act. In cases bb), cc), and dd), the provisions of the German
Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act shall be observed where applicable.
aa) If the shares are bought back via the stock exchange, the purchase price
(excluding incidental expenses) may not exceed by more than 10% or
undercut by more than 20% the arithmetic mean of the closing price in
Xetra trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange determined for Company
shares with the same securities reference number on the last three days of
trading prior to the commitment to purchase.
bb) If the shares are bought back via a public purchase offer, the purchase price
per share or the upper and lower limits of the price range (excluding
incidental expenses) may not exceed by more than 10% or undercut by
more than 20% the arithmetic mean of the closing price for Company
shares with the same securities reference number in the closing auction in
Xetra trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange on the fifth, fourth and third
trading day before the date on which the offer is published. If after a public
purchase offer there are significant deviations in the relevant share price,
the offer may be adjusted. In this case, the basis for determining the purchase price or the purchase price range will be the arithmetic mean of
the closing price for Company shares with the same securities reference
number in Xetra trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange on the fifth, fourth
and third trading day before the public announcement of the adjustment.
The volume may be restricted. If the offer is oversubscribed, acceptance
shall be based on quotas. For this, the Company may provide for preferred
acceptance of small lots of shares (up to 100 shares tendered per shareholder).
The purchase offer may provide for further conditions.
cc) If the Company publicly solicits submission of offers to sell Munich Reinsurance
Company shares, the Company may in its solicitation state a purchase
price range within which offers may be submitted. The solicitation may
provide for a submission period, terms and conditions, and the possibility of
adjusting the purchase price range during the submission period if after
publication of the solicitation significant share price fluctuations occur
during the submission period. Upon acceptance, the final purchase price
shall be determined from all the submitted sales offers. The purchase price
(excluding incidental expenses) for each Company share may not exceed by
more than 10% or undercut by more than 20% the average closing price of
Company shares in Xetra trading on the fifth, fourth and third trading day
prior to the relevant date. The relevant date shall be the date on which the
offers are accepted by the Company. If the number of Company shares
offered for sale exceeds the total volume of shares the Company intended
to acquire, acceptance shall be based on quotas. Furthermore, the Company
may provide for preferred acceptance of small lots of shares (up to 100 shares
tendered per shareholder).
dd) In the case of a public offer to exchange Munich Re shares for shares in
another listed company (“exchange shares”) as defined in Section 3 para. 2
of the German Stock Companies Act, a certain exchange ratio may be
specified or also determined by way of an auction procedure. A cash benefit
may also be provided for as an additional payment to the exchange offered
or as compensation for any fractional amounts. In each of these procedures
for the exchange of shares, the exchange price or the applicable upper and
lower limits of the price range in the form of one or more exchange shares
and calculated fractional amounts, including any cash or fractional amounts
(excluding incidental expenses), may not exceed by more than 10% or
undercut by more than 20% the relevant value of Company shares.
The basis for calculating the relevant value of each Company share and of each
exchange share shall be the respective arithmetic mean closing price in Xetra
trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange on the fifth, fourth and third trading
day before the date on which the exchange offer is published. If the exchange
shares are not traded in the Xetra trading system on the Frankfurt stock
exchange, the basis shall be the closing prices quoted on the stock exchange
having the highest average trading volume in respect of the exchange shares in
the course of the preceding calendar year. If after a public exchange offer there
are significant deviations in the relevant share price, the offer may be adjusted.
In this case, the basis for the adjustment shall be the arithmetic mean closing
price on the fifth, fourth and third trading day before the date of the public
announcement of the adjustment. The volume may be restricted. If the
exchange offer is oversubscribed, acceptance shall be based on quotas. For
this, the Company may provide for preferred acceptance of small lots of shares
(up to 100 shares tendered per shareholder). The exchange offer may provide
for further conditions.
c) The Board of Management shall be empowered to use shares acquired on the
basis of the aforementioned or previously granted authorisations or in accordance
with Section 71d sentence 5 of the German Stock Companies Act for all
legally admissible purposes, and in particular as follows:
aa) They may be used for launching the Company’s shares on foreign stock
exchanges where they are not yet listed.
bb) They may be sold directly or indirectly in return for non-cash payment, in
particular as part of offers to third parties in connection with mergers or
acquisitions of companies or parts of companies, shareholdings or assets
connected with such investments. Selling in this connection may also
include the granting of conversion or subscription rights or of warrants and
the transferring of shares in conjunction with securities lending.
cc) They may be sold to third parties for cash other than via the stock exchange
or via an offer to all shareholders.
dd) They may be offered for subscription to the holders of conversion rights or
warrants issued by the Company or one of its dependent Group companies.
ee) They may be offered as employee shares to staff of the Company or of
enterprises affiliated with the Company within the meaning of Section 15 ff.
of the German Stock Companies Act.
ff) They may be retired without a further resolution of the Annual General
Meeting being required. Any retirement may be limited to a portion of the
bought-back shares. The Board of Management may determine that the
shares can also be retired in a simplified process, without reducing the
share capital, by adjusting the proportion of the Company’s share capital
represented by each of the remaining no-par-value shares. In this case, the
Board of Management shall be authorised to adjust the number of no-parvalue
shares in the Articles of Association.
d) The price at which the shares are launched on other stock exchanges in accordance
with item c) aa) or sold in accordance with item c) cc) may not significantly
undercut the stock price determined for Company shares with the same
securities number in the opening auction in Xetra trading on the Frankfurt stock
exchange (excluding incidental costs) on the day the shares are launched or the
binding agreement with the third party is concluded. In addition, in these cases
the sum of the shares sold, together with any shares that may be issued or sold
during the term of this authorisation by excluding the shareholders’ subscription
rights, directly or indirectly pursuant to Section 186 para. 3 sentence 4 of
the German Stock Companies Act, may not exceed a total of 10% of the share
capital, either at the time this authorisation enters into force or when the shares
are issued or sold.
e) Should the Xetra trading system be replaced by a comparable successor
system, the latter shall also take the place of the Xetra trading system for the
purposes of this authorisation.
f) The authorisations in accordance with item c) may be utilised one or more
times, partially or wholly, individually or jointly; the authorisations in accordance
with item c) bb), cc), dd) or ee) may also be utilised by dependent Group
companies or enterprises in which the Company has a majority shareholding, or
utilised for its or their account by third parties.
g) Shareholders’ subscription rights in respect of these bought-back shares shall
be excluded insofar as the shares are used in accordance with the authorisations
in items c) aa), bb), cc), dd) or ee). Beyond this, if bought-back shares are
sold via an offer to the shareholders, the Board of Management shall be entitled
to exclude shareholders’ subscription rights insofar as this is necessary to grant
subscription rights to the bearers of Company or Group company convertible
bonds or bonds with warrants to the extent to which such bearers would be
entitled as shareholders after exercising their warrants or after the conversion
requirements from such bonds have been satisfied.
h) The authorisation shall run until 27 April 2015. The authorisation to buy back
shares granted by the Annual General Meeting on 22 April 2009 shall be
cancelled as from the moment this new authorisation comes into effect.