Pursuant to the Cyprus Stock Exchange and Cyprus Securities Commission regulations and in order to fully inform the shareholders and the investing public in general, The Cyprus Cement Public Company Ltd (CCC), announces that on March 9th its 100% subsidiary C.C.C. Real Estate Company Ltd (CCCRE) has sold a plot of land to Nelipo Properties Ltd, a company which is 100% subsidiary to Bank of Cyprus Holdings Ltd (BOCH), in the context of loan restructuring of CCC Group and its related entities.
The sale price is €30,75 million and the transaction falls in the scope of the tax breaks introduced in the Cyprus tax legislation in an effort to encourage the loan restructuring between borrowers and lenders.
The subject matter of this loan restructuring was all the loans of CCCRE and CCC with BOCH, as well as part of loans with BOCH of entities related to CCC. Following this transaction, CCC and CCCRE will end up with zero debt, as their loans with other bank institutions will be assumed by the related entities that were part of this loan restructuring. There will be no material impact on the profitability of CCC as a result of this transaction.
The Board of Directors of CCC has approved these transactions as it considers that they will have a very positive impact on the future outlook of CCC, given that:
· The sale price of the plot is in line with the valuation of 2 independent valuers and compares favourably to the land valuation of the total land of CCCRE (the sold plot is about 10% of the total land area).
· As CCC and CCCRE will end up with zero debt and consequently with no financial obligations, CCC Group will be able to pursue its strategy of developing its land with more focus. Having to serve its debt obligations restricted the development potential since it narrowed considerably the methods and options of investment through which such development could materialise. It should be noted that a Master Plan for the Parcelisation and Development of the land owned by CCCRE has already been filed to the Town Planning Department.
· With the elimination of the Group’s obligations, the Board will now be able to re-examine the Company’s dividend policy, taking into account its development funding requirements.
C.C.C. Secretarial Ltd
Secretary
Limassol, 10th March 2017