1 Anyone who directly or indirectly or acting in concert with third parties acquires or disposes of shares or acquisition or sale rights relating to shares of a company with its registered office in Switzerland whose equity securities are listed in whole or in part in Switzerland, or of a company with its registered office abroad whose equity securities are mainly listed in whole or in part in Switzerland, and thereby reaches, falls below or exceeds the thresholds of 3%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 33⅓%, 50% or 66⅔% of the voting rights, whether exercisable or not, must notify this to the company and to the stock exchanges on which the equity securities are listed.
2 Financial intermediaries who acquire or dispose of shares or acquisition or sale rights on behalf of third parties are not subject to this notification duty.
3 Anyone who has the discretionary power to exercise the voting rights associated with equity securities in accordance with paragraph 1 is also subject to the notification duty.
4 The following shall be deemed equivalent to an acquisition or disposal:
- a.
- the initial listing of equity securities;
- b.
- the conversion of participation certificates or profit-sharing certificates into shares;
- c.
- the exercise of conversion or acquisition rights;
- d.
- changes in the share capital; and
- e.
- the exercise of sale rights.
5 All procedures that can ultimately confer the voting right to equity securities also constitute an indirect acquisition. This does not apply in the case of powers of attorney granted solely for the purposes of representation at a general meeting.