Heidelberg Pays Off Loan Ahead of Schedule

The proceeds from the capital increase and the positive free cash flow in the first half of the current financial year enabled Heidelberg to significantly lower its financial liabilities from some EUR 816 million at the end of March 2010 to around EUR 377 million by the end of September 2010.

The capital increase has given Heidelberg a more stable capital structure overall, with a much lower net debt of EUR 243 million and a solid equity basis of around EUR 830 million as at September 30, 2010. This has also resulted in a change to the Group’s financing requirements. Financing has fallen from the previous level of EUR 1.4 billion to just under EUR 900 million. It is now made up of the credit line supported by guarantee pledges from the State and the syndicated credit line from a consortium of banks. These two credit lines have each been reduced to around EUR 445 million.