Corporate | 21 July 2015 19:36

German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA: Accompanying statement regarding the postponement of the IPO

German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA / Key word(s): IPO

2015-07-21 / 19:36

+++ Corporate News +++
for immediate publication

German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA:
Accompanying statement regarding the postponement of the IPO

Berlin, 21 July 2015 – German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA, a venture capital provider to innovative startups in Germany, just announced in a quasi adhoc release that it postpones its planned IPO.

Founder and CEO Christoph Gerlinger comments:

“Of course, we are extremely disappointed that we had to make the decision to postpone our planned IPO today after long, intensive preparations. Various companies have already changed or put their IPO plans on ice in recent weeks. Both we and our banks were convinced until only recently that we would be able to cope with what is currently an extremely difficult market environment due to the fact that our operational business is not affected by it. Unfortunately, we have seen that our estimation of the situation was apparently too optimistic. Investors’ feedback shows, that besides the Greece crisis, the demand was also affected by a dramatic decline in prices on the stock exchanges in China and a decline in prices in a German company from the startup scene that was perceived to be similar to us in our opinion despite all of the structural differences while we were conducting our meetings with investors since mid-June.

Due to the fact that the holidays are now beginning, postponing this again was no longer an option. Considering our successful business model, we were also unwilling to accept any compromises in the volume or offering price of our shares simply because of unfavorable timing. In other words, we saw no chance to have the company listed on the stock exchange at a adequate price and achieve the desired overallotment, in other words excess demand, before the general summer break. In our opinion the possibilities for capital market participants to benefit in the work of German startups therefore will remain rather limited for the time being.

We will continue to follow the capital market environment very closely in order to be able to resume our plans in a flexible and short-term manner under the appropriate circumstances. In the meantime, we will continue to pursue what is actually important to us, namely our operational business. That will give us the timely chance to prepare the quarterly financial statements for the second quarter of 2015 and include the expected positive course of business in our securities prospectus.”

Contact:
cometis AG
Investor Relations
Ulrich Wiehle / Mariana Kuhn
Unter den Eichen 7, 65195 Wiesbaden
Phone: +49 611 20 585 5-61
Fax.: +49 611 20 585 5-66
e-mail: Kuhn@cometis.de

About German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA
German Startups Group is an investment company based in Berlin that focuses on young, fast-growing companies, so-called startups. The company acquires majority and minority shareholdings mainly by providing venture capital. The portfolio companies that German Startups Group holds also stand to benefit from German Startups Group’s expertise, experience and network with respect to strategy development, financing rounds, restructuring necessities, M&A transactions or selling the company, including a possible IPO. According to its own assessment, German Startups Group provides startups with so-called “smart money” by acquiring a shareholding. Its focus is on companies whose products or business models represent a disruptive innovation, allow for a high degree of scalability to be expected, and in which it has a great deal of trust in the entrepreneurial abilities of the founders to whom it feels that it obtains early access to due to its close relationships to relevant players in the German startup scene. The geographical focus is on the German-speaking region. Since it commenced with operations in 2012, German Startups Group has managed to assemble what it considers to be a diversified portfolio of shares in young companies and grown to become the second most active venture capital investor in the tech segment in Germany (CB Insights, The 2014 European Tech Report). As of 15 June 2015, the company held shares in 43 operationally active companies (including one solely as a convertible loan). According to the group, its investment portfolio reflects a cross-section of extremely promising German startups of various maturity stages (“Seed,” “Early” and “Growth Stage,” by the company’s own definition) and includes some of the most successful and best-known German startups.

More information is available on our website under http://www.german-startups.com

Disclaimer:
This communication is not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States. This communication does not constitute or form part of an offer of securities for sale or solicitation of an offer to purchase securities in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan or in any other jurisdiction where such offer may be restricted. The securities must not be offered or sold in the United States unless they are registered or exempted from registration requirement under US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The securities referred to in this communication have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act and have not been and will not be – without an applicable exemption from the registration requirements – offered or sold in the United States or to or for the account or benefit of US persons (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act). There will be no public offering of securities in the United States or anywhere else, except for Germany.

This publication constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation to buy securities. The offer will be made solely by means of, and on the basis of, a published securities prospectus. Investment decisions with respect to the publicly offered shares of German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA should be made solely on the basis of the securities prospectus. The securities prospectus is available from German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA, Platz der Luftbrücke 4-6, 12101 Berlin, and on the Internet under www.german-startups.com free of charge.

This communication is directed only at persons who: (i) are qualified investors within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended) and any relevant implementing measures, and/or (ii) are outside the United Kingdom, and/or (iii) have professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of “investment professionals” contained in article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended) (the “Order”), or are persons falling within article 49(2)(a) to (d) (high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.) of the Order, or fall within another exemption to the Order (all such persons referred to in (i) to (iii) above together being referred to as “Relevant Persons”). Any person who is not a Relevant Person must not act or rely on this communication or any of its contents. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to Relevant Persons and will be engaged in only with/via Relevant Persons.

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