DANONE : Danone completes the sale of part of its stake in Yakult for €1.3 billion

Press release - Paris, March 27, 2018

Danone completes the sale of part of its stake in Yakult for €1.3 billion
                                                                                                                                   

Danone announces today that, as a successful outcome to the transaction previously communicated on February 14^th, 2018, it has sold a total of 24,600,000 shares of Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd. ("Yakult"), for an aggregate amount of JPY175 billion gross proceeds, representing c.€1.3 billion, and corresponding to a valuation multiple of 39 times Yakult's 2017 net income. In line with Danone's capital allocation priorities, proceeds from the transaction will be used to continue on its deleveraging path and to invest in accelerating organic growth and maximizing efficiencies towards 2020 for sustainable value creation.

As a result of the transaction, Danone's stake in Yakult's outstanding share capital is reduced from 21.29% to 6.61%. The investment will continue to be accounted for using the equity method under IFRS.

Danone and Yakult will maintain their long-term partnership and enhance their collaboration activities. Danone remains Yakult's largest shareholder and will nominate two directors for approval at the Annual General Meeting of shareholders.

About Danone (www.danone.com)

Dedicated to bringing health through food to as many people as possible, Danone is a leading global food & beverage company built on four businesses: Essential Dairy and Plant-Based Products, Waters, Early Life Nutrition and Advanced Medical Nutrition. Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices, in line with its vision -Danone, One Planet. One Health - which reflects a strong belief that the health of people and the health of the planet are interconnected. Building on health-focused categories, Danone commits to operating in an efficient and responsible manner to create and share sustainable value. Danone holds itself to the highest standards in doing business, as reflected by its ambition to become one of the first multinationals certified as B Corp. With products sold in over 120 markets, Danone generated sales of €24.7 billion in 2017. Danone's portfolio includes leading international brands (Actimel, Activia, Alpro, Aptamil, Danette, Danio, Danonino, evian, Nutricia, Nutrilon, Volvic, among others) as well as strong local and regional brands (including AQUA, Blédina, Bonafont, Cow & Gate, Horizon, Mizone, Oikos, Prostokvashino, Silk, Vega).
Listed on Euronext Paris and on the OTCQX market via an ADR (American Depositary Receipt) program, Danone is a component stock of leading social responsibility indexes including the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, Vigeo Eiris, the Ethibel Sustainability Index, MSCI Global Sustainability, MSCI Global SRI Indexes and the FTSE4Good Index.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Danone. In some cases, you can identify these forward-looking statements by forward-looking words, such as "estimate," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "intend," "objective" "believe," "forecast," "foresee," "likely," "may," "should," "goal," "target," "might," "will," "could," "predict," "continue," "convinced," and "confident," the negative or plural of these words and other comparable terminology. Forward looking statements in this document include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Danone's operation of its business, and the future operation, direction and success of Danone's business.

Although Danone believes its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. For a detailed description of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to the "Risk Factor" section of Danone's Registration Document (the current version of which is available on www.danone.com).

Subject to regulatory requirements, Danone does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements. This document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy Danone securities.