Cibus: The Board withdraws the proposal to issue class D shares – dividend returned to EUR 0.99 per existing shares - Nordea

Cibus announced on 11 April that the board of directors has decided to withdraw its proposal to issue class D shares through a bonus issue to existing shareholders. According to Cibus, discussions with the larger shareholders indicate that there is currently not sufficient support for the introduction of class D shares, nor the bonus issue. As a consequence, the dividend proposal for existing shares is returned to EUR 0.99 per share versus the combination of EUR 0.75 per class A share and EUR 0.96 per D share (four A shares would have entitled to on D share in the bonus issue). We had expected the introduction of class D shares to increase the financing flexibility for Cibus in its ambitious growth targets and would also have been a tool for the company to reach its investment grade (IG) readiness by the end of 2023. D shares have a fixed dividend and are thus priced as a bond while they are treated as 100% equit y by rating agencies. Hence, without the option of D shares, Cibus will need to finance the equity part of its growth through common equity issuance, in which it has been successful in recent years by issuing shares at a substantial premium to EPRA NRV. D shares would have been a good tool to use in the case that Cibus’ share price would have been momentarily at a lower level as D shares would incur less dilution if common shares are trading at a low price. We do not need to change our estimates following today’s announcement as we have not included any unannounced M&A or the issuance of common or D shares in our estimates. Our fair value range is SEK 260-320 per Cibus share. Marketing material commissioned by Cibus.

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