GO plc - Rights issue by Forthnet

Last Tuesday 20 September, Forthnet S.A. announced that it will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Thursday 27 October 2011 to approve a number of resolutions relating to changes in the Company’s issued share capital including a €30 million rights issue.

Forthnet’s shareholders including Forgendo (through which GO and its majority shareholder own over 41% of the share capital of Forthnet) will be asked to approve (i) a 4-for-1 reverse share split in order to increase the nominal value of the shares from €1.18 to €4.72 and simultaneously decrease the number of issued shares from 155,431,324 shares to 38,857,831 shares; (ii) a reduction in the nominal value of each share from the resultant €4.72 to €0.30 per share in order to create a special reserve of €171.8 million and (iii) the issuance of 38,857,831 shares with a nominal value of €0.30 per share at a ratio of 1 new share for every 1 held at a price which still has to be determined. Forthnet’s aim is to raise at least €30 million in new equity.

The two largest shareholders of Forthnet S.A., namely Forgendo Ltd (41.27%) and Cyrte Investments GP1B.V. (25.73%) are shortly expected to announce their intentions on their participation in this new share issue.