Wed, 07 Oct 1998

Fund for Weleda

Bochum, 7 Oct (INA) - The German bank GLS Gemeinschaftsbank eG has announced a new fund to support a major investment programme by Weleda AG Heilmittelbetriebe. The company produces natural medicines and other health and body-care products.

Over the next few years, Weleda intends to invest almost DM 50 million in a completely new plant at its site in Schwæbisch Gmuend in Germany. Approximately 20 percent of this sum, some DM 10 million, is to be covered by the GLS-Weleda fund.

Shares in the fund are available to subscribers starting from DM 1,000. The anticipated return on the investment is expected to rise from 3.5 percent in the first year to 5.8 percent in 2001.

Weleda would like investors in the fund to feel that by supporting the new complex they are contributing not only to the realisation of a specific project, but that they are also supporting the wider objectives of the company, thus taking the anonymity out of the investment process.

“As well as establishing a solid economic relationship, a personal network of responsibility is also created between investors in the fund and Weleda which is not usual in the ordinary capital market,” the fund's prospectus says.

At the same time the company wishes to bring transparency into the way that the money is used by keeping investors fully informed of developments.

They will receive regular updates from Weleda on the progress of the project and on general developments in the company. Annual meetings of the fund and visits to the new site are also intended to promote this aim.

The architectural design for the plant sets out to make the buildings both economical to operate and to promote sound ecological values.

Weleda AG Heilmittelbetriebe in Schwæbisch-Gmuend is the largest division of the Swiss-based Weleda AG, with approximately 60 percent of the group's turnover. The group has subsidiaries in 35 countries, making it one of the leading producers of anthroposophical medicines and body-care products in the world.

The non-profit making GLS Gemeinschaftsbank eG was established in 1974 and currently provides financing for more than 1100 ecological and social projects in Germany. Twenty-three thousand people are currently investing in projects supported by GLS Gemeinschaftsbank.

Item reference number: N981007-01EN Subject: GLS-Weleda fund, investment, Weleda, GLS Gemeinschaftsbank eG Author: Christian von Arnim Date: 7 October 1998 Full (F) or abridged (A): F Original language: English

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