Sampo plc announces EUR 750 million share buyback programme

Sampo plc announces EUR 750 million share buyback programme

(PRESS RELEASE) HELSINKI, 1-Oct-2021 — /EuropaWire/ — Sampo Group (HEL: SAMPO), a Finnish financial and insurance group, has announced that the Board of Directors of Sampo plc, its parent company, has decided to launch a buyback programme for Sampo A shares based on the authorisation granted by Sampo’s Annual General Meeting on 19 May 2021 thus returning excess capital to its shareholders.

As announced on 24 February 2021, Sampo is committed to return excess capital to its shareholders that may emerge as the holdings in Nordea and other financial investments are divested. In connection with the latest Nordea share sale on 10 September 2021, Sampo announced that the proceeds of the sale would be used to launch a share buyback programme.

The aggregate purchase price of all Sampo A shares to be acquired under the buyback programme shall not exceed EUR 750 million. The maximum amount of Sampo A shares that can be repurchased is 20,000,000 shares corresponding to approximately 3.6 per cent of the total number of shares in Sampo.

The share repurchases will start on 4 October 2021 at the earliest and end by 18 May 2022.

The repurchases will be made in accordance with the safe harbour arrangement of Article 5 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The shares will be acquired through public trading on Nasdaq Helsinki, CBOE, Turquoise and Aquis. Sampo has appointed Exane BNP Paribas as the lead manager for the share buyback programme. The lead manager will make trading decisions independently of and without influence from Sampo, within the announced limits.

The price payable per share shall be determined by the pricing obtainable on the relevant trading venue. The minimum price to be paid would be the lowest market price of the share quoted during the authorisation period and the maximum price the highest market price quoted during the authorisation period.

The purpose of the buyback programme is to return excess capital to shareholders by reducing Sampo plc’s capital, as the repurchased shares will be cancelled. The repurchases will reduce funds available for distribution of profit.

Media contacts:

Sami Taipalus
Head of Investor Relations
tel. +358 10 516 0030

Maria Silander
Communications Manager, Media Relations
tel. +358 10 516 0031

Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
London Stock Exchange
The principal media
Financial Supervisory Authority
www.sampo.com

SOURCE: Sampo plc