Chase Nominees Ltd., London, acting in its capacity as a nominee
for other investors, was registered with 7.99% of all
shares issued as of 31 December 2007, compared to 8.81%
at year-end 2006 and 8.55% at year-end 2005. DTC (Cede &
Co.), New York, The Depository Trust Company, a US securities
clearing organization, was registered as a shareholder for
a great number of beneficial owners with 14.15% of all shares
issued as of 31 December 2007 (13.21% as of 31 December
2006). According to “UBS’s Regulation on the Registration of
Shares”, voting rights of nominees are restricted to 5%, while
clearing and settlement organizations are exempt from this
restriction. As of 31 December 2007, no other shareholders
had reported holding 3% or more of all voting rights. Ownership
of UBS shares is widely spread (see tables providing information about the distribution of shareholders
by category and geography). This information relates only
to registered shareholders and cannot be assumed to be representative
of the entire UBS investor base. Only shareholders
registered in the share register as shareholders with voting
rights are entitled to exercise voting rights.
Under the Swiss Stock Exchange Act, anyone holding
shares in a company listed in Switzerland, or derivative rights
related to shares of such a company, has to notify the company
and the stock exchange if the holding attains, falls below
or exceeds one of the following thresholds: 3, 5, 10, 15, 20,
25, 33 1/3, 50, or 66 2/3% of the voting rights, whether they are
exercisable or not. The detailed disclosure requirements and
the methodology for calculating the thresholds are defined in
the “Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Banking Commission on
the Stock Exchanges and Securities Trading” (disclosure of
shareholdings). In particular, the ordinance prohibits the netting
of so-called acquisition positions (i.e. in particular shares,
conversion rights and acquisition rights or obligations) with
disposal positions (i.e. rights or obligations to sell). It further
requires that each such position be calculated separately and
reported simultaneously as soon as it reaches a threshold.
Since 13 September 2002, UBS’s holdings of its own shares
have been above the 3% threshold requiring disclosure under
the Swiss stock exchange laws. UBS’s position in its own shares
remained between 3% and 10% throughout 2007 (see also Notification Obligations).
At year-end 2007, UBS held a stake of 7.79% (161,475,748)
of acquisition positions (proportion of voting rights) consisting
of 160,841,275 UBS registered shares and a total of
634,473 acquisition rights and granted disposal rights on
UBS registered shares. At the same time, UBS held 10.32%
(213,775,377) of disposal positions (proportion of voting
rights) relating to UBS registered shares.
