East Capital Explorer AB: ECEX intends to launch discount mechanism

Regulatory News:

East Capital Explorer AB (publ) ("ECEX”) (STO:ECEX) today announces its intention to initiate a share buyback program, conditional upon approval of the proposed joint termination of the Company’s Investment Agreement with East Capital at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 9 May 2016. If launched, buybacks will be carried out for as long as the Company’s shares trade at a discount of more than 20 percent to its most recently published NAV.

The Board further announces its intention to, going forward, call an EGM to cancel the Company’s treasury shares if the buyback mandate’s 10 percent of outstanding shares threshold is reached, and to ask for a renewed buyback mandate.

The decision to repurchase shares falls within the scope of the authorization given to the Board by the Annual General Meeting 2015. The authorization is valid until the 2016 AGM. If the EGM on 9 May approves the Board’s proposal to terminate the Investment Agreement, the Company intends to launch the buyback program shortly after the EGM[i] (http://connect.ne.cision.com#_ftn1).

Please refer to today’s press release regarding the Board’s proposal to the EGM regarding a joint termination of the Investment Agreement. The Company’s largest shareholder, East Capital, supports the above mentioned buyback initiative as well as the proposed termination of the Investment Agreement.

"Launching a broad and active buyback program with a clear discount target is aligned with our aim to increase shareholder value as an independent and self-managed investment company. We currently have substantial liquid investments that are not seen as core and that can be allocated to buybacks. This would, however, not mean that we put new investments completely on hold, but that any new investment would need to be carefully evaluated against buybacks”, said Mia Jurke, CEO of East Capital Explorer in a comment.

During 2009-2015, the Company has distributed a total of EUR 68m to its shareholders through buybacks, dividends and redemption programs. In addition, the Board has already announced that it will propose an ordinary dividend of SEK 0.80 (EUR 0.09) per share, corresponding to a total of approximately EUR 2.4m, for approval at the 2016 Annual General Meeting.

About East Capital Explorer

East Capital Explorer AB (publ) is a Swedish investment company, created with the aim of bringing unique investment opportunities in Eastern Europe to a broader investor base. The company makes direct investments into primarily private companies and real estate, but has also invested through East Capital’s alternative investment funds. East Capital Explorer’s main investment theme is domestic growth and the Company targets fast growing sectors such as retail, telecom and real estate. East Capital Explorer is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, Mid Cap.

Listing: Nasdaq Stockholm, Mid Cap - Ticker: ECEX - ISIN: SE0002158568 - Reuters: ECEX.ST - Bloomberg: ECEX SS Equity

This information is disclosed in accordance with the Securities Markets Act, the Financial Instruments Trading Act and demands made in the exchange rules. It was released for publication at 08:00 a.m. CET on 7 April 2016.

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[i] (http://connect.ne.cision.com#_ftnref1) The Company intends to buy back shares under the "Safe Harbour” rules, meaning that the Company is not prohibited to buy back shares during closed periods.

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