The Annual General Meeting of the Company's shareholders that was held on 23 June 2008 approved the conversion of the Company's 365,373,700 ordinary shares from bearer to registered shares. The Ministry of Development, in its decision number K2-9386 / 14.7.2008, has approved the amendment of the relevant article of the Company's Articles of Association. The Board of Directors of the Athens Exchange (ΑΤΗΕΧ) has approved the listing of the new shares resulting from the conversion.
According to the Regulation of ΑΤΗΕΧ, for the conversion of the shares to take effect, trading in the Company's shares must be temporarily suspended for a period of up to five working days.
Accordingly, 8 August 2008 will be the last day of trading on ΑΤΗΕΧ of the Company's 365,373,700 bearer shares. From the next business day, 11 August 2008, trading of the Company's bearer ordinary shares will cease for the purpose of their conversion into an equal number of registered ordinary shares. On 18 August 2008, trading of the new 365,373,700 registered ordinary shares will commence on ΑΤΗΕΧ.
The Company also announces that during the period that trading on the main market will be suspended, trading will be also temporarily suspended on the New York Stock Exchange and on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), where the Company's American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) and Chess Depositary Instruments (CDIs), respectively, are listed. The Company has applied for a temporary suspension on the NYSE and ASX in the interests of promoting fairness to all shareholders and protecting investors during a period when they will not have access to share price information from the ATHEX. Trading on the secondary market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) will continue during the same period since the Listing Rules of the United Kingdom Listing Authority do not provide for a temporary suspension of trading under these circumstances.