SGT German Private Equity GmbH & Co. KGaA

Delisting Announcement • Nov 11, 2015

News Details

Corporate | 11 November 2015 08:41

German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA listed on the stock exchange from today on

DGAP-News: German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA / Key word(s): IPO

2015-11-11 / 08:41

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+++ Corporate News +++

for immediate publication

German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA listed on the stock exchange from today on

– Shares of German Startups Group listed in the Entry Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as of today

– Private placement successfully completed

Berlin/Frankfurt, 11 November 2015: Shares of German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA, the second most active venture capital investor in Germany since 2012 (CB Insights, 2015), will be traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange starting today. The entire share capital of 11,114,750 shares in German Startups Group (ISIN DE000A1MMEV4 / WKN A1MMEV) was included in trading in the Entry Standard subsegment.

3,715,125 of these shares come from a recent capital increase that was successfully completed as a private placement with select investors, including leading recognized German and, for the first time, Anglo-Saxon investment companies. The transaction was accompanied by Hauck & Aufhauser Privatbankiers KGaA and quirin bank AG, which acted as joint bookrunners. The original shareholders did not sell any of their shares as part of the transaction and have even subjected 96% of the shares they hold to a so-called “lock-up” that prohibits their sale for six months, for twelve months for its Management and Supervisory Board. The securities prospectus is available for downloading on the company’s website.

CEO Christoph Gerlinger expressed his satisfaction with the intermediate step that has now been completed: “We are very pleased that we have made the leap to the trading floor, despite the continued fragile market environment for IPOs. Through the listing, we have established sustainable access to the capital market that will allow us to provide venture capital to the booming German startup scene and thus finance our growth and continue on our successful course. We want to invest the fresh capital from the private placement primarily in further shares of German growth companies and thus continue to expand our portfolio of the most attractive German startups of all maturity levels in our opinion.”

German Startups Group started business in April 2012, has grown quite strongly since then and has already been consistently profitable since its first full fiscal year 2013. It has set itself the goal of becoming one of the leading venture capital providers in Germany even in terms of investment volumes. As a VC provider, the company plays a very different role than so-called “company builders” and does not found startups itself, but rather participates in the later stages of maturity after growth companies have achieved initial successes. It also doesn’t compete with startup founders and is therefore exposed to lower risks and in a better starting position to be offered a wide range of investment opportunities by its own estimation compared to “company builders.” The company examined 570 investment opportunities in 2014 alone.

Since its founding, the management of German Startups Group has been able to build a portfolio of 24 minority stakes significant to German Startups Group and one majority stake through its established network that includes some of the most prominent and successful German growth companies. With its investment strategy, German Startups Group was able to achieve an annual gross performance of average capital invested in shareholdings of 33% in the three year period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2015. German Startups Group achieved net profit of EUR 0.30 per share during the first half of 2015 alone.

“The German startup scene is developing very dynamically – especially in Berlin, the center of the German startup scene, which has by now been given the nickname Silicon Allee. From our perspective, highly attractive investment opportunities exist here that capital market investors hardly have access to at the moment. This is where we now build the bridge by listing our shares. Having access to capital markets by increasing our long-term financing capability will also strengthen our position in the German startup scene. We have used the last few months to approach very attractive investment opportunities and are confident that we will soon be able to report on new acquisitions,” Christoph Gerlinger concludes.

Press materials are available here: http://www.german-startups.com/index.php/presse .

Investor Relations Contact

cometis AG

Ulrich Wiehle / Mariana Kuhn

Phone: +49 611 20585561

Mail: kuhn@cometis.de

**Press Contact

German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA**

Theo Bonick

Phone: +49 174 7984135

Mail: presse@german-startups.com

German Startups Group – We Love Startups!

German Startups Group is a listed investment company based in Berlin that focuses on young, fast-growing companies, so-called startups. The company acquires majority and minority shareholdings mainly by providing venture capital. The portfolio companies that German Startups Group holds also stand to benefit from German Startups Group’s expertise, experience and network with respect to strategy development, financing rounds, restructuring necessities, M&A transactions or selling the company, including a possible IPO. According to its own assessment, German Startups Group provides startups with so-called “smart money” by acquiring a shareholding. Its focus is on companies whose products or business models represent a disruptive innovation, allow for a high degree of scalability to be expected, and in which it has a great deal of trust in the entrepreneurial abilities of the founders to whom it feels that it obtains early access to due to its close relationships to relevant players in the German startup scene. The geographical focus is on the German-speaking region. Since it commenced with operations in 2012, German Startups Group has in its opinion built up a diversified portfolio of investments in young companies and become the second most active venture capital investor in Germany since 2012 (CB Insights, Germany Venture Capital Overview). 24 of the 41 minority stake holdings in operationally active companies are of particular significance to German Startups Group and together comprise 94,3% of the total value of all 41 active minority stake holdings. According to German Startups Group, its investment portfolio reflects a cross-section of extremely promising German startups of various maturity stages (“Seed,” “Early” and “Growth Stage,” by German Startups Group’s own definition) and includes some of the most successful and best-known German startups.

More information is available on our website under www.german-startups.com

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