Aabar to Increase UniCredit Stake to 6.5%

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Jan 17, 2012, 05:48 ET

ABU DHABI, UAE, January 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Aabar Luxembourg Sarl, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aabar Investments PJS, has entered into a series of transactions for the acquisition of subscription rights in additional shares in UniCredit SpA which, upon completion of the capital increase, would lead to Aabar' s interest in Unicredit reaching approximately 6.5% on a fully diluted basis.

His Excellency Khadem Al Qubaisi, Chairman of Aabar: "We are intending to participate in the rights increase and actively support UniCredit's management and franchise in the future. We intend to remain one of the largest shareholders of UniCredit post its rights issue. We believe in the fundamental value of the bank and its importance in the Italian and European context. This additional investment in UniCredit further reiterates our support to the bank and its management in successfully navigating through current market uncertainty. It is our belief that the success of the current rights issue will help strengthen UniCredit's capital base and bring with it a more positive outlook for the future. The investment is consistent with our policy of investments and strategic partnerships with global market leading businesses. We are looking forward to continuing a successful relationship with UniCredit. We have been shareholders in UniCredit since March 2009 and continue to be impressed with UniCredit's market leading banking franchise in Italy and Europe.

Morgan Stanley acted on behalf of Aabar on this transaction"

About Aabar Investments PJS

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Aabar Investments PJS invests in various sectors including infrastructure, aviation, real estate, automotive, commodities, energy and financial services. IPIC acquired a stake in Aabar in 2008 and has since progressively increased its stake to the current level of 95.24%. Since IPIC's initial investment, Aabar has made numerous investments including stakes in Daimler AG, Tesla Motors, Inc., Falcon Private Bank Ltd., Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, UniCredit S.p.A., Galactic Ventures LLC, XOJET, Inc., Glencore International plc and a portfolio of real estate projects.

Website: http://www.aabar.com

SOURCE Aabar Investments PJS