On October 13, 2004, Unibail´s Board of Directors decided to convene a General Shareholders´ Meeting to vote on a proposed exceptional payout of €23 per share. This General Shareholders´ Meeting will be held on December 15, 2004.
From a tax standpoint, €10.29 payout will be considered as an exceptional reserves distribution and €12.71 as an equity repayment. The payout will occur on January 7, 2005 and will apply to all Unibail shares in issue at the date of the General Shareholders´ Meeting.
Through this exceptional payout, Unibail is adjusting its financial structure to its prime-quality portfolio in three sectors of office properties, shopping centers and convention & exhibition centers.
This financial structure will enhave Unibail´s longstanding value creation strategy , which focuses on high value-added transactions, the optimization of long-term returns on its major property assets, the sale of its mature assets and the completion of its substantial development pipeline.
Unibail will remain equally open to any acquisition opportunities that fit within its strategy and its financial performance criteria.
In terms ofrecurring dividend, Unibail will pursue its policy adopted in February 2004 and designed to provide shareholders with a substantial and steadily rising income over the long term. Therefore, the dividend to be proposed by the Board in February 2005, for the 2004 financial year, should exceed the previous €3.50 per share dividend set for the 2003 financial year. It should grow at least 5%, which is the minimum annual growth targeted for Unibail´s recurring dividend over the next five years. Dividends will be paid on a quarterly basis.
Taking into account this exceptional payout, Standard & Poor´s confirms Unibail´s ´A´-rating, changing its oulook from ´stable´ to ´negative´ and Moody´s, which issued its first-ever rating, rates Unibail ´A3 outlook stable´.
Source: Unibail
