Rights issue of Safilo Group S.p.A.: offer on the stock market of the option rights not exercised

05/03/2010
• Starting from Monday 8 until Friday 12 March 2010, n. 56,912,500 option rights not exercised are offered on the Stock Market for the subscription of a total number of 149,110,750 ordinary shares of Safilo Group S.p.A.

Padova, March 5, 2010 – Safilo Group S.p.A. communicated on March 2 2010 the conclusion on February 26 2010, with an extremely satisfactory take up level by the market, of the Rights Issue approved by the Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting held on December 15, 2009 (the “Rights Issue”).

At the end of the offer period, n. 56,912,500 option rights were not exercised (the “Unexercised rights”), equal to 18.13% of the total option rights, for the subscription of a total number of 149,110,750 ordinary shares of Safilo Group S.p.A., for a total amount of 45,329,668.00 Euro.

Pursuant to article 2441, par. 3 of the Italian Civil Code, the Unexercised Rights will be offered on the Stock Market by Banca IMI on behalf of Safilo Group S.p.A. in five consecutive trading days starting March 8, 2010 and ending March 12, 2010 (the “Auction Period”).

Each day, a fifth of the total number of the Unexercised Rights will be offered. Any residual rights from the previous day will be added to the total number of Unexercised Rights offered in any of the following trading days.

The Unexercised Rights will be made available to the buyers at Monte Titoli S.p.A. and will grant the subscription of newly issued ordinary shares of Safilo Group S.p.A., of 0.25 Euro of nominal value, at a subscription price of 0.304 Euro per share, at a ratio of n.131 newly issued ordinary shares (with the same characteristics of the outstanding shares) for each n.50 Unexercised Rights.

The subscription of the ordinary shares shall be made through the authorised intermediaries participating to the centralized system managed by Monte Titoli S.p.A. by and not later than 15 March 2010, under penalty of expiration.

The shares subscribed during the Auction Period will be made available to beneficiaries through the authorised intermediaries participating to the centralized system managed by Monte Titoli S.p.A. by the tenth trading day following the last available date for their subscription.

Following the offer on the Stock Market of the Unexercised Rights, if necessary, the guaranteed commitments by HAL Holding N.V. (the “Partner”) and Banca IMI and UniCredit Bank Milano (the “Underwriting Banks”) would be activated.

In particular, the Partner has undertaken to subscribe (directly or indirectly) unsubscribed new shares following the offer on the Stock Market equal to a maximum of n. 144,991,118 newly issued ordinary shares for maximum amount of 44,077,299.87 Euro.

Following the execution of the guaranteed commitments by the Partner as described above, the Underwriting Banks could eventually have to subscribe, depending on the results of the offer on the Stock Exchange, up to a maximum number of 4,119,632 unsubscribed new shares, equal to around 0.36% of the share capital of Safilo Group S.p.A. post money, for a maximum amount of 1,252,368.13 Euro.

The Prospectus of the rights issue is available in the website of the Company (http://www.safilo.com/) and at the headquarters of Safilo Group S.p.A. in Padua, Settima Strada n. 15 and at the registered office of Borsa Italiana S.p.A., in Milan, Piazza degli Affari n. 6.


The Safilo Group is worldwide leader in the premium eyewear sector and maintains a leadership position in the prescription, sunglasses, fashion and sports eyewear sectors. Present in the international market through exclusive distributors and more than 30 subsidiaries in primary markets (U.S.A., Europe and Far East). The main proprietary branded collections distributed are: Safilo, Carrera, Smith Optics, Oxydo, Blue Bay, and the licensed branded collections are: Alexander McQueen, A/X Armani Exchange, Balenciaga, Banana Republic, Bottega Veneta, BOSS by Hugo Boss, Diesel, 55DSL, Dior, Emporio Armani, Fossil, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, HUGO by Hugo Boss, J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Choo, Juicy Couture, Kate Spade, Liz Claiborne, Marc Jacobs, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Max Mara, Max&Co., Nine West, Pierre Cardin, Saks Fifth Avenue, Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent and, starting from Fall 2010, Tommy Hilfiger.

This press release is also available on the website www.safilo.com


For further information:

Investor Relations
Barbara Ferrante
+39 049 6985766
www.safilo.com/en/investors.html

Safilo press office
Nicoletta Chinello
ph. +39 049.69.85.379

Community consulenza nella comunicazione ph. +39 0422.416.111 - 02.89.40.42.31
Auro Palomba – Mob. +39 335.71.78.637
Giuliano Pasini – Mob. +39 335.60.85.019



Last update: 05/03/2010, 13:17