In September 2018, in light of the downturn in its financial outlook and the financial difficulties faced by the MBWS, the Board of Directors decided to accelerate the optimization of the Group’s cost structure and to begin a project to sell some of the Group‘s brands to cover all or part of the losses in FY 2018. As stated at the time, the brands that contribute most significantly to the Group’s net sales are not to be affected by this project. Since last September, given this situation, the Group sought in parallel to secure the backing of a solid partner, capable of providing the necessary financial means, and of supporting the execution of the strategy to be communicated by the Chief Executive Officer in Q1 2019. It is within this context that a binding agreement with COFEPP, the Group’s main shareholder, currently accounting for 29.47% of MBWS’ capital. The following is foreseen: - the subscription by COFEPP to an increase in MBWS’ capital, with the suspension of preferential subscription rights for the shareholders, which will be reserved for COFEPP, for a total amount (issue premium included) of €37.712m via the issue of 9.4m new ordinary MBWS shares at a subscription price per share (issue premium included) of €4, equivalent to a premium of 5.60% vis-à- vis the volume-weighted average closing price of the last five days at 21 December 2018, of which 30 million euros are to be paid in cash or by a receivable offset, specifically with the Bridge Loan.