Wolters Kluwer announces that, in the course of executing on its share buyback program, the number of shares held in treasury has reached 14.5 million, or 5.01% of total issued ordinary shares (290.3 million). In accordance with regulatory requirements, the company has today notified the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).
Share repurchases are being made as part of the three-year (2016-2018) share buyback program originally announced in February 2016. This buyback program was subsequently expanded to include additional repurchases intended to mitigate dilution caused by non-core divestments made in 2017 and early 2018.
At the 2018 Annual General Meeting, shareholders approved a resolution to cancel for capital reduction purposes any or all ordinary shares held in treasury or to be acquired by the company as authorized by shareholders, up to a maximum of 10% of the issued share capital on April 19, 2018. As authorized by shareholders, the Executive Board has determined the number of ordinary shares to be cancelled is 10.6 million. Wolters Kluwer intends to cancel these shares in the second half of 2018. Part of the shares held in treasury will be retained and used to meet future obligations under share-based incentive plans.
Further information on our share buyback transactions can be found on Investors.