Ovaro starts acquiring its own shares

Ovaro starts acquiring its own shares

Ovaro Kiinteistösijoitus Oyj
Stock Exchange Release 1o December 2018 at 08:45 hrs

On the basis of the authorisation issued by the GM, the Board of Directors of Ovaro Kiinteistösijoitus Oy has decided to start acquiring the company’s own shares, i.e., treasury shares.

Ovaro will acquire at most 40,000 of its own shares, i.e, at most approximately 0.4% of the entire capital stock. The shares will be acquired through public trading organised by Nasdaq Helsinki at the market price prevailing at the time of acquisition. The acquisition of own shares will begin at the earliest on 10 December 2018 and end on 10 February 2019 or when the maximum number of shares has been acquired.

“Ovaro Kiinteistösijoitus will now start acquiring its own shares, because the restrictions of Act 299/2009 governing the tax concessions of certain limited liability companies engaged in apartment rental business are eliminated with the amendment of Articles of Association  and because the business allows it,” CEO Kari Sainio says.

The company’s new name and amendment of the Articles of Association were registered on 1 October 2018, when Orava Residential REIT became Ovaro Kiinteistösijoitus. The REIT status provided Orava Residential REIT with tax concessions that prevented the company from acquiring its own shares. One of the reasons for changing the Articles of Association was to have the possibility to acquire the company’s own shares.

“Acquiring own shares is a sensible way to reward patient shareholders, as no dividends were paid this year and the share price is so far from the company’s net assets per share,” CEO Kari Sainio says.

On 30 September 2018, the EPRA NAV per share of Ovaro Kiinteistösijoitus was EUR 9.48, while the share price of Ovaro has been in the range of EUR 5.00-5.60 during the autumn.

The extraordinary general meeting held on 10 September 2018 authorised the Board of Directors decide on the acquisition of at most 900,000 treasury shares in one or more instalments using the company’s unrestricted equity. The treasury shares can be acquired for developing the company’s capital structure, for use as collateral in corporate transactions or as part of the company’s incentive scheme and otherwise to be further transferred, to be kept by the company or to be annulled.

Ovaro Kiinteistösijoitus Oyj has 9,598,910 shares, and the company has currently no treasury shares.

Additional information:

Petri Roininen, Chairman of the Board of Directors, tel. +358 40 761 9669

Kari Sainio, CEO, tel. +358 400 209 147