Auden : looking back upon successful 2016, enters 2017 with significant momentum

Berlin - 2. January 2017

• Reverse takeover completed, in parallel with strategic transformation into investment company
• Share price rise of more than 650 per cent over the past year
• Company to adopt IFRS accounting standard starting in 2017, in preparation for Deutsche Börse listing upgrade to General Standard
• Investment strategy broadened to encompass special situations
• Change in Supervisory Board

Auden AG is able to look back upon a strikingly successful year. The Berlin-based investment company, created through the reverse takeover of an established and listed German stock corporation which was previously a fashion company, has impressively and convincingly demonstrated over the past 12 months the speed and determination with which it is pursuing its defined strategic goals. Among the company's achievements over the period have been three capital increase transactions totalling over EUR 20 million, among not only German but also international investors, as well as new investment transactions in five extraordinarily promising portfolio companies. These companies, which have been largely driving Auden's soaring share price over the past months, are expected to see significant internationalisation and scaling of their business models over the coming year.

On the capital markets, the rapid rise of Auden's share price over the past year reflects the dramatic strategic change which its management team has been successfully executing, and the impact this has been having on its intrinsic value. Over the course of 2016, shareholders in Auden AG have been able to celebrate a share price increase of more than 650 per cent.

'For all of us at Auden, the successes which we achieved in 2016 drive us to achieve even more in 2017,' says Christofer Radic, CEO of Auden AG. 'In addition to our operational activities, particularly expanding our investment portfolio and guiding our individual portfolio companies, we will also focus our efforts on making Auden even more attractive in the capital markets. In addition to our planned shift to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) starting in 2017, we will be upgrading our listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange to the General Standard segment, putting us in Deutsche Börse's Regulated Market. This will open an even broader base of institutional investors to us, so that we can reach out to them.'

Over the past year, the management team of Auden has found that, in the course of its intensive interactions with its European investor network, unique opportunities have been repeatedly presented for investments into special situations, outside the company's defined theme of investing in digital start-ups, generally in the Series A (first round) stage. Because of the attractiveness of some of these special situations, Auden has decided to consider such opportunistic investments in 2017, subject to rigorous examination.

Christian E. Frenko, Portfolio Manager of Auden AG, adds: 'This broadened investment strategy allows us to take full advantage of unique opportunities which may be presented to us, whether these come from our local market contacts or from our regular interactions with established investment partners who have their own strong networks of contacts.'

Already in January, the management team of Auden AG will launch an extensive roadshow programme targeted at major new shareholders who would bring strategic value to the company. Because no additional financing rounds are currently planned, however, these investments into Auden AG will necessarily take place on the market. The company's declared goal remains the attainment of a market capitalisation of EUR 100 million by the end of 2017.

The start of 2017 will also mark a change in the membership of the Supervisory Board. Stefan Zuleeg, whose long experience and connections in the textile industry was of great value to the processor fashion company, will relinquish his seat to Ekkehardt von Knebel Doeberitz, who brings a long and distinguished career in the financial industry. Among his past achievements, he served as CEO of Baring Asset Management AG, as managing director at Paribas Investment, as director at Metzler Investment, and as international client advisor at JPMorgan. 'I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Stefan Zuleeg for his extraordinarily helpful support in so many different ways over the past 12 months,' says Auden CEO Radic. 'With Ekkehardt von Knebel Doeberitz, we are gaining a Supervisory Board member who can give us significant advice and assistance moving forward, particularly as we develop our equity story and reach out to a broader range of international investors.'