VIENNA, Austria, Nov. 7, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Wiener Stadtische Insurance Group has acquired 7% or 4.5 million shares of Wienerberger AG from Koramic Building Products.
CEO Gunter Geyer confirmed this new role of Wiener Stadtische: Wienerberger is a solid international company, which provides an optimal addition to our industrial portfolio in Austria. Wiener Stadtische is continuing its strategic plans to invest in Austrian industry, and now holds a total of 9% in Wienerberger AG through several companies and funds."
Koramic Remains Long-Term Minority Shareholder
On August 27, 2002, Koramic Building Products and Bank Austria Creditanstalt announced the intention to gradually reduce their joint holding in Wienerberger on a coordinated basis to less than 50%, and thereby avoid any negative influence on the price of the Wienerberger share. Christian Dumolin, President of Koramic Building Products confirmed that the first step in this direction has now been completed: "Our goal was to transform Wienerberger into a free float company, and this goal has now been realized. The share owned by Koramic has declined to roughly 20%, which will push the joint holding with Bank Austria Creditanstalt below 50%. Koramic does not plan to sell any further Wienerberger shares this year, and intends to remain a minority shareholder over the longterm with a holding of approximately 10%." Bank Austria Creditanstalt plans no sales of Wienerberger shares at this time.
Wienerberger Welcomes the New Shareholder Structure
Wolfgang Reithofer, CEO of Wienerberger AG, welcomes this new shareholder structure: "We are pleased that Wiener Stadtische has increased its investment and thereby underscored its confidence in the positive development of our company in such an impressive manner. This represents the first decisive step to a free float company. Wienerberger is therefore free to also finance future growth over capital markets. We intend to play an important role in the consolidation of the international building materials industry and create further value for our shareholders."
Wienerberger AG
The Managing Board