ABB To Launch Share Buyback Program On July 23; Names Chief Communications Officer

(RTTNews) - Swiss engineering company ABB Ltd.(ANN.L, ABB) Wednesday said it will launch its previously announced share buyback program on July 23, until the company's Annual General Meeting on March 25, 2021.

The decision follows the completion of the divestment of its Power Grids business to Hitachi on July 1, and consistent with its overall capital structure optimization program.

ABB initially intends to buy 10 percent of its issued share capital through this share buyback program as part of its plan to return to shareholders net cash proceeds of $7.6 billion-$7.8 billion from the sale of Power Grids.

The company will buy back a maximum of 180 million shares, in addition to those already held in treasury. The corresponding maximum buyback amount of 4.2 billion Swiss francs for this program is based on ABB's share price on July 21.

The maximum number of shares that may be repurchased under the program on any given trading day is 2.19 million.

The share buyback program is for capital reduction purposes.

Separately, ABB announced the appointment of Theodor Swedjemark to the Executive Committee as Chief Communications Officer. Swedjemark has held the position on an interim basis since March 1. Swedish-national Swedjemark has been at ABB since 2006.