Mapfre Middlesea plc - Results of Mandatory Bid

On 6 October, Middlesea Insurance plc announced the results of the Mandatory Bid conducted by Mapfre Internacional. Mapfre became the majority shareholder in Middlesea after acquiring the 19.9% shareholding held by Munich Re for €0.63 per share. Subsequent to this event and upon receiving approval from the Listing Authority, Mapfre launched a mandatory bid to all other shareholders (totalling over 4,600) offering to buy their shares at a price €0.965 per share.

Middlesea revealed that only 780 shareholders holding 3.585% of the total outstanding share capital took up the offer (equivalent to 3,298,200 shares). The other large institutional shareholder, Bank of Valletta plc which owns 31.08% of Middlesea, had already indicated its intention that it will retain their shares. Following this mandatory bid, the shareholding structure of Middlesea Insurance plc is now composed as follows:

• MAPFRE Internacional S.A.                                         54.56%
• Bank of Valletta plc                                                    31.08%
• General Public (approx. 3,820 shareholders)             14.36%

The announcement however failed to indicate when payment will be made to those shareholders who accepted the bid.