OREANDA-NEWS. December 20, 2012. KBC Group NV ("KBC" or the "Company") announces the successful placement of 58,835,294 ordinary shares at a price of EUR 21.25 per share, resulting in gross cash proceeds of EUR 1,250,250,000.

The offering comprises approximately 35.8 million new ordinary shares which will be listed on 13 December 2012 and 23 million new registered shares which will be swapped with a core shareholder (M.R.B.B. CVBA) against existing ordinary shares held by it. The intention is to list the new registered shares by the annual shareholders' meeting of April 2013.

Details of the offering

Following the capital increase, the issued share capital of KBC Group NV will be increased by EUR 1,250,250,000, represented by 58,835,294 new shares with no nominal value.

KBC, as well as certain core shareholders, have agreed to a six-month lock-up, subject to certain customary exceptions and the granting of a pledge in respect of certain financings.

Settlement is scheduled to occur on 13 December 2012.

Johan Thijs, KBC Group CEO commented on today's announcement as follows: "The issuance today was very well received in the market and we are happy with the success of the transaction. Just like with the successful covered bonds transaction a couple of weeks ago, we managed to do the book building in a very short period of time and noticed a healthy appetite from different types of institutional investors. Moreover, the new shares are issued at 21,25 EUR which represents a discount of only 9.5 % compared to the closing price of last Friday (23,47 EUR). This is a clear testimony of the trust institutional investors place in KBC's fundamentals and bank-insurance business model. It confirms our position among the best capitalised, most liquid and profitable European financial institutions."