DGAP-News: freenet AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous 
freenet AG: freenet AG repays debts of 610.0 million euros after sale of 
Sunrise shares 
 
2020-11-20 / 06:00 
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 
 
*freenet AG repays debts of 610.0 million euros after sale of Sunrise 
shares* 
 
*- Proceeds of around CHF 1.2 billion from the sold Sunrise shares received 
on 11 November 2020* 
 
*- Significant reduction of leverage ratio1 to around 1.7x EBITDA* 
 
*- Early repayment of the outstanding bank loan of 610.0 million euros * 
 
*Büdelsdorf, 20 November 2020 *- freenet AG [ISIN DE000A0Z2ZZ5] is today 
repaying the 
syndicated bank loan of 610.0 million euros taken out to finance its equity 
stake in the Swiss telecommunications provider Sunrise Communications Group 
AG (Sunrise) acquired in 2016. The most recent average interest rate of the 
loan amounted to 1.6 per cent. 
 
The funds for the repayment of the bullet loan derive from the sale of the 
Sunrise shares held by freenet AG to the US cable group Liberty Global, 
which had offered CHF 110 per Sunrise share in a public tender offer in 
August 2020. Through the complete sale of the total of 11,051,578 shares, 
freenet AG received Swiss francs equivalent to approximately 1.1 billion 
euros in cash on 11 November 2020. 
 
"The sale of the Sunrise shares strengthens freenet AG's capital base in the 
long term. The resulting reduction in debt, together with the optimized 
maturity structure of other financial liabilities in a challenging 
environment, makes the balance sheet future-proof and increases the 
financial flexibility." explains Ingo Arnold, CFO of the freenet AG. 
 
Thus, freenet AG stands by its promise to use the proceeds from the sale of 
its Sunrise investment primarily to repay bank liabilities. The company 
plans to repay further 200 million euros of financial debt by March 2021 at 
the latest. The remaining proceeds are planned to be reinvested in the 
business, utilized to the benefit of freenet shareholders and/ or used for 
further smaller debt repayments. 
 
Together with the early refinancing of maturing promissory notes in the 
current fiscal year, the debt situation of freenet AG has thus eased 
considerably. As a result, the leverage ratio1 was reduced from 4.8 at the 
end of 2019 to currently around 1.7. 
 
_******************************_ 
1 Leverage ratio as of 30 September 2020 less cash from the sale of Sunrise 
shares (11,051,578 shares). 
 
_******************************_ 
*freenet Group* 
Investor Relations & ESG 
 
Deelbögenkamp 4 
22297 Hamburg 
Phone: +49 40 / 513 06 778 
Fax: +49 40 / 513 06 970 
Mail: ir@freenet.ag 
 
Further information at http://www.freenet-group.de/investor-relations [1]. 
 
2020-11-20 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a 
service of EQS Group AG. 
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 
 
The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, 
Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. 
Archive at www.dgap.de 
Language:    English 
Company:     freenet AG 
             Hollerstrasse 126 
             24782 Buedelsdorf 
             Germany 
Phone:       +49 (0)40 51306-778 
Fax:         +49 (0)40 51306-970 
E-mail:      ir@freenet.ag 
Internet:    www.freenet-group.de 
ISIN:        DE000A0Z2ZZ5, DE000A1KQXU0 
WKN:         A0Z2ZZ , A1KQXU 
Indices:     MDAX, TecDAX 
Listed:      Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated 
             Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, 
             Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange 
EQS News ID: 1149430 
 
End of News DGAP News Service 
 
1149430 2020-11-20 
 
 
1: https://eqs-cockpit.com/cgi-bin/fncls.ssp?fn=redirect&url=3166cfa2b8c6f2c5e4da25790db1e4a0&application_id=1149430&site_id=vwd&application_name=news

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 20, 2020 00:00 ET (05:00 GMT)