Bastei Lübbe AG: Successful placement of shares - Trading in the Prime Standard starts on October 8th 2013

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Bastei Lübbe AG: Successful placement of shares - Trading in the Prime Standard starts on October 8^th 2013

Cologne, 3 October 2013 - Bastei Lübbe AG, a leading German publishing and media group with renowned authors such as Dan Brown and Ken Follett completed its initial public offering (IPO) despite a challenging market environment, placing shares at an offering price of EUR 7.50 per share. 4,000,000 no par value ordinary bearer shares (shares) with a proportionate amount of the share capital of EUR 1.00 per share were placed. Of these, up to 3,300,000 million shares from a capital increase in Bastei Lübbe AG, which would raise the share capital of EUR10,000,000.00 to up to EUR13,300,000.00. Gross proceeds amounted to EUR30 million.

In the course of a two-week roadshow conducted in numerous European cities, there was a markedly high interest for the IPO by institutional investors. The public offering to retail investors in Germany, Austria and Luxembourg, who could subscribe for shares via the German Stock Exchange's subscription functionality system, also met with high resonance. Furthermore, there was impressive media coverage of the IPO over the past few weeks. Trading in Bastei Lübbe AG shares in the Prime Standard, the quality segment of the Regulated Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange characterized by the highest transparency requirements is planned for 8 October 2013, one day before the largest book fair in the world, the Frankfurt Book Fair, starts.

Bastei Lübbe AG plans to use the proceeds from the IPO in their business with focus on intensifying the development of own content as well as the content and rights acquisition of top-selling books and authors. New shareholders will have the opportunity to strongly benefit from the extensive experience Bastei Lübbe AG possesses in the publishing business and in the company's profits.

In the past years, Bastei Lübbe AG has transformed itself from a traditional publisher to a multi-dimensional media company. In the classical and very stable book publishing business, Bastei Lübbe AG can look back on more than 60 years of expertise in developing content and material and successful ties to authors.

'We are delighted with our successful IPO. With the funds generated from the capital increase, we can expand our pioneering role in the creation, digitalization and internationalization of our own content as well as our multi-dimensional selling and distribution approach within our media company.', says Stefan Lübbe, publisher and largest shareholder of Bastei Lübbe AG.

Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG, based in Frankfurt am Main, acted as Sole Global Coordinator and Sole Bookrunner, and Conpair AG, based in Essen, acted as Financial Advisor on the IPO transaction.

About Bastei Lübbe AG

Bastei Lübbe AG is a German publishing and media group long renowned for bringing popular fiction as well as non-fiction to the mass market. Its business activities include not only paperback and hardback books in print form but also audiobooks, e-books, and other digital publications. Its catalogue includes a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and entertainment products intended for a wide readership, including not only the various highly successful paperback fiction series for which Bastei Lübbe has long been famed but also puzzle books and magazines. The group's business activities additionally include the licensing of book rights and the creation, production and marketing of gift, decorative and merchandising articles.

Bastei Lübbe also owns the following non-consolidated shareholdings in companies: 90% of Moravská Bastei MOBA, s.r.o. (Brno, Czech Republic), 100% of Bastei Media GmbH (Erfurt, Germany), 50% of PRÄSENTA PROMOTION INTERNATIONAL GmbH (Solingen, Germany), and 100% of Bastei Lübbe Verwaltungs GmbH (Cologne, Germany).

The company also has smaller shareholdings in various book and periodical distribution companies, none of which exceeds 5% of the respective company's registered capital.

The business activities of Bastei Lübbe are broadly divided into segments: Books, Non-Books, and Popular Fiction and Puzzle Publications, which in turn include various product areas. The group publishes under 13 different labels, which span its full range of market segments and product areas.

For the fiscal year 2012/2013, 80% of the group's revenues were derived from the Books segment, while 11% came from Non-Books and the remaining 9% from Popular Fiction and Puzzle Publications.

At the end of its fiscal year 2012/2013, the number of staff employed by Bastei Lübbe was 265, compared to 210 at the close of the prior fiscal year. These figures do not include the 15 staff employed by its non-consolidated subsidiary Moravská Bastei MOBA, s.r.o. (Brno, Czech Republic), or at its other non-consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates (Bastei Media GmbH and PRÄSENTA PROMOTION INTERNATIONAL GmbH). As of the date of the offering prospectus, the number of staff was 305, a further increase since the end of fiscal year 2012/2013.

Disclaimer

This publication and the information contained therein do not constitute an offer to sell or a solicition of an offer to buy or subscribe for securities of Bastei Lübbe AG. There will be no public offering of securities of Bastei Lübbe AG outside Germany, Austria and Luxembourg. The public offering in Germany, Austria and Luxembourg is being made exclusively on the basis of the securities prospectus (including any supplements thereto), which has been approved by the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) and which has been notified to the responsible authorities in Austria and Luxembourg. The prospectus (including any supplements thereto) is available on the website of Bastei Lübbe AG (www.lübbe.de) and at the company (Schanzenstraße 6 - 20, 51063 Köln) and is the sole commanding document for the offering. Any decision by investors to invest in shares of Bastei Lübbe AG should be made exclusively on the basis of the prospectus (including any supplements thereto).

This publication and the information contained therein are not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States of America, Canada, Australia and Japan or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation would be restricted by law. Any violation of these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of such jurisdictions.

This publication does not constitute an offer for securities in the United States. Securities, including the shares of Bastei Lübbe AG within the offering, may not be sold or offered for sale within the United States or to or for the account of U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 as amended (the 'Securities Act')) unless they have been registered under the Securities Act or on the basis of an exemption from the registration requirement. There is no intention to register the offering or a part thereof in the United States or to make a public offering of securities in the United States.

This document includes 'forward-looking statements'. Forward-looking statements are all statements, which do not describe facts of the past, but containing the words 'believe', 'estimate', 'expect', 'anticipate', 'assume', 'plan', 'intend', 'could', and words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties since they relate to future events and are based on current assumptions and estimates of Bastei Lübbe AG, which might not occur at all or occur not as assumed. They therefore do not constitute a guarantee for the occurrence of future results or performances of Bastei Lübbe AG. The actual financial position and the actual results of Bastei Lübbe AG, as well as the overall economic development and the regulatory environment may differ materially from the expectations, which are assumed explicitly or implicitly in the forward-looking statements and do not comply to them. Therefore, investors are warned to base their investment decisions with respect to Bastei Lübbe AG on the forward-looking statements mentioned in this document. Bastei Lübbe AG does not assume responsibility to update or amend forward-looking information mentioned herein or to update or amend forward-looking information in respect of future events or developments.