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Procedures for Investors

Airbus

BETTER FINANCE, The European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, joins forces with Stichting Investor Loss Compensation (SILC), assisting Airbus shareholders to recover losses resulting from Airbus’ involvement in bribery practices and other wrongful conducts.

Largest ever penalty on global bribery practices | On 31 January 2020, Airbus – the global supplier of aircraft, and Europe’s largest aerospace multinational – announced that it had reached a settlement with French, US, and UK authorities. Airbus paid combined penalties of €3.6 billion to avoid prosecution over landing contracts via bribery to airline executives and government officials in 20 countries between 2004 and 2016. This represents the largest global foreign bribery fine to date.

Damage to Airbus shareholders | The fines severely affected the company’s earnings and tarnished Airbus’ reputation. When this information became publicly known, the inflated price of Airbus shares fell sharply, causing large losses for investors. Airbus had failed to immediately inform investors of its unlawful conduct and to comply with legal disclosure obligations regarding its involvement in bribery practices and the significant reputational and financial risk it faced as a result.

Shareholder compensation | In May 2022, Airbus settled a class action lawsuit and compensated only shareholders who bought Airbus American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) and foreign ordinary shares in the U.S. Shareholders who bought Airbus shares through European stock exchanges were left out.

Compensation for European shareholders | BETTER FINANCE joined forces with SILC, an independent foundation that assists shareholders in recovering investment losses and which currently represents institutional investors with more than EUR 300 million in losses against Airbus. On behalf of all who bought Airbus shares through European stock exchanges, SILC filed a collective action before the Court in The Netherlands against Airbus SE, and its responsible executives and auditors.

No upfront costs | This action is supported by experienced experts from SILC and Birkway, the Amsterdam-based law firm specialising in collective redress. It is powered by DRRT, an international law firm, and market leader in global loss recovery with significant Dutch experience, and Rightshare, a platform that connects individual shareholders to worldwide investment recovery opportunities. The costs of the action will be funded by Therium, a funder with a track record in the European market; there are no upfront costs for registered investors.

BETTER FINANCE and its member organisations call on all investors who bought and/or held Airbus shares between January 2014 and December 2020 on European stock exchanges to come forward and join the pending shareholder recovery action against Airbus by SILC.

Free registration is now open at www.airbusclaim.com

Wirecard

In cooperation with DSW, Stichting Wirecard Investors Claim seeks compensation from EY for injured Wirecard investors.

Together with the law firms of Nieding+Barth (Frankfurt am Main) and AKD Benelux Lawyers (Amsterdam), which specialize in capital market law, DSW (Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz), the leading German association for the protection of investors, set up a not-for-profit foundation under Dutch law as a litigation vehicle: Stichting Wirecard Investors Claim. The Foundation targets EY Global as well as EY Germany and other EY entities involved in the Wirecard audit.

Stichting Wirecard Investors Claim (SWIC) is a non-profit foundation incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands. SWIC was founded with the express goal of bringing Wirecard investors together in order to seek compensation from EY for their damages as a result of the Wirecard fraud. Such compensation may be achieved through litigation or via a settlement agreement (or, if necessary, a combination of the two).

The foundation’s choice of location in the Netherlands is deliberate. It opens up the possibility of achieving a collective settlement with EY that could subsequently be declared binding on all European investors by the Dutch courts.

All investors affected by Wirecard can join the foundation, including non-German investors. This is why BETTER FINANCE, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, supports the action.

Affected investors can register at www.wirecardinvestorsclaim.com free of charge.

Volkswagen

The Stichting Volkswagen Investors Claim, a non-profit organization established under the law of the Netherlands, provides affected investors with the opportunity to pursue recovery of investment losses on securities of Volkswagen AG (“VW” or the “Company”), Porsche AG, Audi AG, and affiliated companies, following VW’s admission to manufacturing cars with devices intended to manipulate emissions test results. Through the Foundation, investors may be able to recover for losses on VW, Porsche, and Audi securities purchased from April 23, 2008.

Aggrieved investors can join the Foundation free of charge and with no risk involved. For more information about the Foundation, please visit the homepage of the Foundation: www.stichtingvolkswageninvestorsclaim.com.