Equipment specialist, SAF-Holland, has completed its conversion into a European company upon being entered into the Luxembourg Business Register and is now operating under the name of SAF-Holland SE, effective immediately.
“Due to our international orientation, the conversion is a logical step and another milestone for the strategic development of the company,” said SAF-Holland Group CEO, Alexander Geis.
The extraordinary general meeting held 14 February 2020 approved the conversion into a European Company by unanimous vote. The shareholders of SAF-Holland S.A. have automatically become shareholders of SAF-Holland SE upon the conversion taking legal effect. The listing of the shares of SAF-Holland on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange remains unaffected by the change of the legal form. This also applies to shareholder rights and the financial reporting.
“In the coming weeks we will prepare the second step, transferring the registered office to Germany,” said SAF-Holland Group CFO, Dr. Matthias Heiden.
By transferring the registered office, the plan of the spatial consolidation of the registered office of SAF-Holland SE, as the holding company, with the operating functions of SAF-Holland GmbH will reportedly be realised. Simultaneously, the persistent monistic governance system of SAF-Holland SE remaining even after the change of the legal form, consisting of the Board of Directors and Group Management Board should, SAF-Holland said in a statement, be converted into a dualistic model consisting of a Management Board and Supervisory Board. In this way, the management structure of SAF-Holland SE would be adapted to match the customary governance structure of its new country of domicile, Germany.
An extraordinary general meeting, which is likely to be held Q2 2020 after the Annual General Meeting has been concluded, will vote on the next steps – including a capital increase from company funds, the transfer of the registered office from Luxembourg to Germany and the restatement of the articles of association.
Together with the change of the legal form and transfer of the registered office, SAF-Holland is planning to simplify its corporate structure.
(Image: SAF-Holland Group CEO, Alexander Geis.)