EQS-News: Schaeffler AG successfully issues bonds to finance the acquisition of Vitesco shares

• Bond issuance with a total volume of 1.1 billion euros in two tranches with tenor of two and a half and five and a half years
• Issuance proceeds primarily to be used for refinancing the acquisition of the Vitesco shares
• Bond issuance was oversubscribed several times
• Public tender offer to Vitesco shareholders with consideration of about 1.1 billion euros successfully completed on January 5, 2024

Herzogenaurach, Germany | January 9, 2024 | Yesterday, Schaeffler AG (“Schaeffler”) successfully placed corporate bonds with a total volume of 1.1 billion euros with international investors. The bond placement was carried out under the current debt issuance program of Schaeffler AG and comprises two tranches.

500 million euros 4.500 % bond, maturing on August 14, 2026

600 million euros 4.750 % bond, maturing on August 14, 2029

As a result of the strong investor demand, the bond issuance was oversubscribed several times.

The proceeds of the issuance will mainly be used for the refinancing of the previous bridge financing of the tender offer for all outstanding shares of Vitesco Technologies Group AG (“Vitesco”) which was successfully completed on January 5, 2024.

The new bond issuance is scheduled to be settled on January 15, 2024. The bonds will be listed on the regulated market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. BNP Paribas, BofA Securities, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank, which have already advised the syndication process for the bridge financing, acted as Joint Active Bookrunners for the bond placement.

Claus Bauer, Chief Financial Officer of Schaeffler AG responsible for Finance and IT, said: “By issuing these bonds, we are securing the financing for the acquisition of the Vitesco shares for the long term at an early stage. The above-average demand and great trust of investors in Schaeffler impressively demonstrate that they value Schaeffler’s financial stability and support the corporate merger with Vitesco.”

Public tender offer for Vitesco shares successfully completed
On January 5, 2024, the public tender offer for all outstanding shares of Vitesco was closed and the payment of the consideration of 94 euros per share having been offered to Schaeffler within the acceptance period was executed. As a result, Schaeffler secured 29.88 percent of the Vitesco shares. The total offer consideration amounted to about 1.1 billion euros. Following the completion of the tender offer and in combination with the 49.94 percent stake held by IHO Holding, the strategic management holding company of the Schaeffler family (attributed to Schaeffler due to an acting in concert agreement), Schaeffler holds 79.82 percent of Vitesco’s share capital and voting rights.

Klaus Rosenfeld, Chief Executive Officer of Schaeffler AG, said: “With the completion of the tender offer and the very successful bond issuance, we have successfully implemented the first important step in the combination of Schaeffler and Vitesco. We are pleased by the positive response from the capital markets, which impressively confirms that our plan to create a leading motion technology company is being embraced and supported.”

Here you can find press photos of Klaus Rosenfeld and Claus Bauer: https://www.schaeffler.com/en/group/executive-board/

Forward-looking statements and projections

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial consequences of the plans and events described herein. No one undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this press release. Statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or events should not be taken as representation that such trends or events will continue in the future. The cautionary statements set out above should be considered in connection with any subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements that Schaeffler, or persons acting on its behalf, may issue.

Disclaimer: Bond Issue

This announcement does not constitute an offer of securities for sale or a solicitation of an offer to purchase securities. Neither this announcement nor anything contained herein shall form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any offer or commitment whatsoever in any jurisdiction.

This communication is an advertisement for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 and underlying legislation. It is not a prospectus. The base prospectus is available, and the Final Terms of the bonds when published will be available, on the website of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange at https://www.bourse.lu/programme/Programme-Schaeffler/14509.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities in the United States. Any securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or the laws of any state within the U.S., and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration or in a transaction not subject to the registration requirements of the Securities Act. Any public offering of securities to be made in the United States will be made by means of a prospectus that may be obtained from the issuer or the selling security holder and that will contain detailed information about the company and management, as well as financial statements. There will be no offering of the securities in the United States. This announcement and the information contained herein may not be distributed or sent into the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which offers, or sales of the securities described herein would be prohibited by applicable laws and should not be distributed to publications with a general circulation in the United States. The bonds are being offered and sold outside the United States only in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act.

In the United Kingdom, this announcement is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order") and (ii) high net worth entities falling within Article 49(2) of the Order and (iii) persons to whom it would otherwise be lawful to distribute it (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The bonds are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such bonds will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this announcement or any of its contents.

None of the Joint Bookrunners or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisers or agents accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for or makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information in this announcement (or whether any information has been omitted from the announcement) or any other information relating to Schaeffler or any of their subsidiaries or associated companies, whether written, oral or in a visual or electronic form, and howsoever transmitted or made available or for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this announcement or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith.

The Joint Bookrunners are acting exclusively for Schaeffler and no one else in connection with the transaction. They will not regard any other person as their respective clients in relation to the transaction and will not be responsible to anyone other than Schaeffler for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients, nor for providing advice in relation to the transaction, the contents of this announcement or any arrangement or other matter referred to herein.

In connection with the issue of the bonds, the Joint Bookrunners and any of their affiliates, acting as investors for their own accounts, may subscribe for or purchase the securities of Schaeffler and in that capacity may retain, purchase, sell, offer to sell or otherwise deal for their own accounts in such securities and other securities of Schaeffler or related investments in connection with this securities offering or otherwise. The Joint Bookrunners do not intend to disclose the extent of any such investment or transactions otherwise than in accordance with any legal or regulatory obligations to do so.

MIFID II PRODUCT GOVERNANCE / PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS AND ECPS ONLY TARGET MARKET – Solely for the purposes of each manufacturer's product approval process, the target market assessment in respect of the bonds has led to the conclusion that: (i) the target market for the bonds is eligible counterparties and professional clients only, each as defined in Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, "MiFID II"); and (ii) all channels for distribution of the bonds to eligible counterparties and professional clients are appropriate. Any person subsequently offering, selling or recommending the bonds (a "distributor") should take into consideration the manufacturers' target market assessment; however, a distributor subject to MiFID II is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the bonds (by either adopting or refining the manufacturers' target market assessment) and determining appropriate distribution channels.

PROHIBITION OF SALES TO EEA RETAIL INVESTORS – The Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area ("EEA"). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II; (ii) a customer within the meaning of Directive 2016/97/EU (as amended, the "Insurance Distribution Directive"), where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 14, 2017 (as amended, the "Prospectus Regulation"). Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended or superseded, the "PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation.

PROHIBITION OF SALES TO UK RETAIL INVESTORS – The Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the United Kingdom ("UK"). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2017/565 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("EUWA"); (ii) a customer within the meaning of the provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended (the "FSMA") and any rules or regulations made under the FSMA to implement Directive (EU) 2016/97, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA; or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA. Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA (the "UK PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the UK has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the UK may be unlawful under the UK PRIIPs Regulation.

Disclaimer: Voluntary public tender offer of Schaeffler AG to the shareholders of Vitesco Technologies AG

This publication is for information purposes only regarding the voluntary public tender offer (the “Offer”) of Schaeffler AG (“Schaeffler”) for all shares of Vitesco Technologies Group AG (“Vitesco” or the “Company”) and does not constitute a solicitation to sell or an offer to buy any of the securities of Vitesco. The offer document published by Schaeffler after approval by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) (“Offer Document”) is the sole binding document with regard to the terms and other provisions relating to the Offer. Investors and holders of securities of Vitesco are strongly advised to read the Offer Document and all other announcements relating to the Offer as soon as they have been made public, as they contain or will contain important information.

The Offer is being implemented solely in accordance with the applicable laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, in particular the German Securities Acquisition and Trading Act (Wertpapiererwerbs- und Übernahmegesetz) (“WpÜG”) in conjunction with the German regulation on the contents of offer documents, considerations related to tender offers and compulsory offers, and exemptions from the obligation to publish and submit an offer (WpÜG-Angebotsverordnung), and with certain provisions of the securities laws of the United States of America applicable to cross-border tender offers. The offer is not made or intended to be made pursuant to the provisions of any other jurisdiction. Accordingly, no notifications, registrations admissions or approvals of the Offer or of the Offer Document have been or will be applied for or initiated by Schaeffler or the persons acting in conjunction with Schaeffler outside of the Federal Republic of Germany. Schaeffler and the persons acting in conjunction with Schaeffler therefore do not assume any responsibility for compliance with law other than the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany or applicable securities laws of the United States of America.

The Offer will not be filed, published or publicly advertised pursuant to the laws of any jurisdiction other than the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America.

Schaeffler and the persons acting in conjunction with Schaeffler assume no responsibility for the publication, dispatch, distribution or dissemination of any documents connected with the Offer outside the Federal Republic of Germany, the Member States of the European Union and the European Economic Area being compatible with the applicable requirements of jurisdictions other than those of the Federal Republic of Germany. Furthermore, Schaeffler and the persons acting in conjunction with Schaeffler assume no responsibility for the non-compliance of third parties with any laws.

Schaeffler, to the extent permissible under applicable law or regulation, reserves the right to purchase, or conclude agreements to purchase, shares in the Company, directly or indirectly, or enter into derivative transactions with respect to the shares in the Company, outside of the Offer. This applies to other securities which are directly convertible into, exchangeable for, or exercisable for shares in the Company. These purchases may be completed via the stock exchange at market prices or outside the stock exchange in negotiated transactions. Any information about such purchases will be disclosed as required by law or regulation in Germany or any other relevant jurisdiction.

Schaeffler Group – We pioneer motion

The Schaeffler Group has been driving forward groundbreaking inventions and developments in the field of motion technology for over 75 years. With innovative technologies, products, and services for electric mobility, CO₂-efficient drives, chassis solutions, Industry 4.0, digitalization, and renewable energies, the company is a reliable partner for making motion more efficient, intelligent, and sustainable – over the entire life cycle. The technology company manufactures high-precision components and systems for drive train and chassis applications as well as rolling and plain bearing solutions for a large number of industrial applications. The Schaeffler Group generated sales of 15.8 billion euros in 2022. With around 84,000 employees, the Schaeffler Group is one of the world’s largest family companies. With more than 1,250 patent applications in 2022, Schaeffler is Germany’s fourth most innovative company according to the DPMA (German Patent and Trademark Office).

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