OREANDA-NEWS. May 20, 2010. Acron’s BoD made a decision to buy out 953,752 of its shares, at 2% of its current share capital, at a price of RUB 910.39 per share, which corresponds to the weighted average price of the shares on MICEX in the past 12 months. As stated by the company, the buyout is the first step towards the liquidation of a cross holding of shares between Acron and Dorogobuzh. After Acron buys the amount of shares stated for buyout, Dorogobuzh will sell the same amount of Acron shares on its balance sheet on the market. As a result, Acron’s free float will not change.

This step by Acron as a move in the right direction, given that the liquidation of a cross-shareholding scheme should have positive effects on investor attitude toward the parent company, while Dorogobuzh will get hefty funds from the sale of 2% of Acron shares, at USD 29 mn at the buyout price (the current market price of the entire 8.7% share package is USD 116 mn). The terms of the buyout are transparent and fair and we believe that the initial buyout will be followed by other tranches until all of the 8.7% of Acron shares on Dorogobuzh books pass over to the Acron balance sheet.