Finnair to start to acquire the company’s own shares
The Board of Directors of Finnair Plc has decided to commence acquiring the company’s own shares on the basis of the authorization given by the Annual General Meeting held on 20 March 2018.
The maximum number of shares to be acquired is 600,000, corresponding to 0.47% of the total number of shares. The maximum sum to be used for the repurchase is EUR 5.0 million. Finnair currently holds a total of 197,008 own shares, corresponding to approximately 0.15% of the total number of the shares and votes.
The share buyback shall start on 5 December 2018 at the earliest, and end by the last day of April 2019, at the latest. The shares shall be acquired through public trading on the Nasdaq Helsinki exchange at the market price prevailing at the time of purchase.
Acquired shares will be used primarily for implementation of Finnair's Employee Share Savings Plan (FlyShare) and long-term share-based incentive scheme for key personnel. The terms of the share plan and incentive scheme can be viewed on Finnair's website at www.finnairgroup.com under section Governance/Remuneration.
The Annual General Meeting held on 20 March 2018 decided to authorize the Board to decide on the acquisition of a maximum of 5,000,000 own shares using the unrestricted shareholders' equity of the company. Own shares may be repurchased in order to, inter alia, develop the capital structure of Finnair, to finance or carry out acquisitions, investments or other business transactions, or in order to use the shares as part of Finnair's incentive and remuneration schemes. The authorisation is effective until 20 September 2019.