Countermotions and candidate nominations by shareholders in relation to the appointment of the Supervisory Board members or of the independent auditors received before the end of the day (24:00 hours CEST) on 12 April 2017 shall be published here.

Statements made by management in response to countermotions and candidate nominations shall also be published here.

In connection with candidate nominations by shareholders in relation to the appointment of the Supervisory Board members the Executive Board points out the following: In accordance with Section 96, Paragraph 1 and Section 101, Paragraph 1 of the German Stock Corporation Act, Section 7, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Item 3 of the German Co-Determination Act and Section 8, Paragraph 1 of the Articles of Association, the Supervisory Board is composed of ten members elected by the Annual General Meeting and ten members elected by the employees. Pursuant to Section 96, Paragraph 2 of the German Stock Corporation Act, at least 30% of the seats on the Supervisory Board, corresponding to at least six seats, must be staffed with women, and at least 30%, corresponding to at least six additional seats, must be staffed with men. The fulfilment of the minimum staffing requirements for the Supervisory Board as a corporate body as a whole (overall fulfilment) has been opposed by the shareholder representatives. In consequence, the minimum requirement of 30% women and 30% men applicable to the elections must be fulfilled both by the shareholders and the employees separately. Therefore, at least three seats must be staffed with women and three seats must be staffed with men by both the shareholders and the employees separately.