OREANDA-NEWS. On 20 May 2016, HNA Aviation (Hong Kong) Air Catering Holding Co., Ltd., Hong Kong ("Offeror"), a subsidiary of HNA Group Co., Ltd. ("HNA"), published the Offer Prospectus on the public tender offer (“Offer”) for all publicly held shares of gategroup Holding AG ("gategroup Shares").

HNA confirms its intention to file a request for the cancellation of the outstanding publicly held gategroup Shares in accordance with art. 137 FMIA. An affirmative court ruling will be subject to, among others, a participation of the Offeror together with the persons acting in concert of at least 98.00%. In such case, gategroup Shares not owned by HNA will be cancelled and the remaining shareholders will receive a cash compensation in the amount equal to the offer price.

At the end of the additional acceptance period on 21 July 2016, the participation of the Offeror together with the persons acting in concert amounted to 96.10% of all listed 26,786,336 gategroup Shares (subject to settlement). Since then, the Offeror has purchased additional shares on- and off-exchange and seeks to make further share purchases at the offer price of CHF53.00 per gategroup Share (symbol: GATE).

Upon settlement of the Offer, and irrespective of the outcome of the share cancellation proceeding, the Offeror confirms its intention to instruct gategroup to apply to the SIX Swiss Exchange for the de-listing of all gategroup Shares in accordance with the listing rules of SIX Swiss Exchange and for an exemption of certain disclosure obligations under the listing rules of SIX Swiss Exchange until the date of the de-listing of the gategroup Shares. In the absence of a share cancellation event, any remaining holders of gategroup Shares retain their respective voting rights and their ownership of share capital and hence are minority shareholders in the privately held gategroup alongside the majority owner HNA.

After the satisfaction of all offer conditions, the Offeror will (i) inform about the closing of the second trading line for gategroup Shares tendered into the Offer and (ii) announce the settlement date. Settlement of the Offer is expected in the fourth quarter 2016.