The Annual General Meeting of Íslandsbanki hf. (the Bank), which was held on 21 March 2024, authorised the Bank's Board of Directors to acquire during a period of 18 months from its approval, up to 10% of the issued share capital of the Bank for the purposes of setting up a formal share repurchase programme or to offer shareholders to sell their shares to the Bank. The purpose is to reduce the Bank's share capital.

As announced in parallel to Íslandsbanki's 4Q23/2023 Full Year results the Bank has planned for additional distribution of excess capital in the amount of ISK 10 billion. The Bank has now decided to make an offer to the Bank's shareholders to buy back their shares in the Bank through a reverse auction, for the total market value of up to ISK 3,000 million (the "Repurchase"). 
The maximum accepted price for each share in the Repurchase shall not exceed the highest price of the last independent trade or the highest existing independent purchase bid in the trading systems where the shares are traded, whichever is higher. 

Arion banki hf. (Arion banki) manages the Repurchase. The Repurchase will be a reverse auction carried out through a Dutch auction method i.e., accepted offers will be offered to shareholders at the highest accepted price. All shareholders of Íslandsbanki hf. registered in the Bank's share register at the close of business today, 24 October 2024, can make an offer to sell their shares to the Bank through Arion banki Capital Markets. 

In the event the demand during the Repurchase exceeds the maximum total purchase price according to the above, the Bank will buy pro rata to the shareholdings of the participating shareholders. Íslandsbanki reserves the right to accept or reject any offer in whole or in part.  

The Repurchase is carried out in accordance with the applicable law, including Act on Limited Liability Companies No. 2/1995 and Regulation No. 596/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council on market abuse (MAR), cf. Act on Measures Against Market Abuse No. 60/2021, implementing MAR into Icelandic legislation. The approval of the Financial Supervisory Authority of the Central Bank of Iceland for the Bank’s repurchase of own shares has been obtained.  

Offers shall be submitted to Arion banki Capital Markets, which will also provide answers to questions that may arise by phone at +354 444 7316, through email at trading@arionbanki.is, with the subject "Íslandsbanki Repurchase", before 08.30 a.m. GMT on 25 October 2024.

Results of the Repurchase will be announced through a regulatory release to the market before 09.30 a.m. GMT on 25 October 2024. Settlement date of accepted offers is Tuesday, 29 October 2024. 
At the date of this announcement, Íslandsbanki owns 87,229,363 own shares, equivalent to 4.36% of the Bank’s issued share capital.

This announcement is released by Íslandsbanki hf. and contains information that qualified or may have qualified as inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR), encompassing information relating to the buyback described above. For the purposes of MAR and Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055, this announcement is made by Ellert Hlöðversson, CFO of Íslandsbanki hf.