Significant Events after the Reporting Date

By way of a decision dated January 17, 2011, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf granted the request of Klöckner-Werke AG (KWAG) to establish whether the filing of legal action against the resolution passed by the General Meeting of Shareholders for the transfer of minority shareholders’ shares to Salzgitter Mannesmann GmbH (SMG) as the major shareholder would stand in the way of entering this resolution into the Commercial Register. Upon application by KWAG, the resolution of the General Meeting of Shareholders was subsequently entered into the Commercial Register on January 27, 2011. The shares of the minority shareholders have thus been effectively transferred to SMG. In compensation, SMG paid a cash settlement to the shareholders relinquishing their shares of € 14.33 per share, which is approximately € 32 million in total. Trading in the shares of KWAG on the stock markets has been terminated. The shareholder has withdrawn his action for annulment of the decision.

On January 29, 2011, a serious rail accident occurred in which a freight train of Verkehrsbetriebe Peine-Salzgitter GmbH (VPS) collided with suburban passenger train on a single track in the region of Magdeburg. Ten people died and 23 people sustained partly serious injuries. We were deeply dismayed and shocked at this news. May we offer the victims of this tragic accident – presumably caused by human error – and their relatives our heart-felt condolences.