Wienerberger : Change in Wienerberger’s Shareholder Structure

Vienna, August 18, 2014 - Wienerberger AG received an announcement in accordance with Sec. 91 seq. of the Austrian Stock Exchange Act from the US-based College Retirement Equities Fund ("CREF"), the US-based Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America ("TIAA"), the US-based Teachers Advisors, Inc. and the US-based TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC about the following changes in holdings of Wienerberger stock:

1. On August 13, 2014, CREF purchased 385,086 shares/voting rights of Wienerberger AG, increasing its total holdings in Wienerberger AG to 4,767,416 shares/voting rights. By purchasing the 385,086 shares/voting rights of Wienerberger AG, CREF has therefore as of August 13, 2014 reached and exceeded the 4% voting rights threshold.

2. The US-based Active Extension Fund V - Analyst Market Neutral, LLC ("AEF-V") owns 28,934 shares (equal to 28,934 voting rights) of Wienerberger AG. AEF-V is wholly owned by TIAA.

AEF-V is exclusively managed by the US-based Teachers Advisors, Inc. CREF is exclusively managed by US-based TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC. Both Teachers Advisors, Inc. and TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC are wholly owned by US-based TIAA-CREF Asset Management LLC (a holding company), which is in turn
wholly owned by TIAA.

Teachers Advisors, Inc. and TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC have agreed to follow the same policies, pursuant to the common TIAA-CREF Policy Statement on Corporate Governance (the "Policy Statement"), when exercising the voting rights for the Wienerberger AG shares directly held by CREF and AEF-V.

Pursuant to the terms of the Policy Statement, the voting rights of the above mentioned 4,767,416 shares (4.056%) in Wienerberger AG directly held by CREF can be exercised independently by TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC in its own name. Similarly, pursuant to the terms of the Policy Statement, the voting rights of the above mentioned 28,934 shares (equal to 28,934 voting rights) of Wienerberger AG directly held by AEF-V and indirectly held by TIAA can be exercised independently by Teachers Advisors, Inc. in its own name.

Therefore, the above mentioned holdings/voting rights exercisable by way of proxy by TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC and Teachers Advisors, Inc. need to be aggregated pursuant to sec 91 (1) and 92 para 1 of the Austrian Stock Exchange Act. The aggregated holdings amount to 4,796,350 or 4.081% shares/voting rights of Wienerberger AG as of August 13, 2014. Both TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC and Teachers Advisors, Inc. have thus together reached and exceeded the 4% threshold as of August 13, 2014.

3. Since TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC and Teachers Advisors, Inc. - as outlined above - are indirect wholly owned subsidiaries of TIAA, the total voting rights of 4.081% in Wienerberger AG are attributable - pursuant to the requirements of the Austrian Stock Exchange Act - to TIAA which has reached and exceeded the 4% threshold as of August 13, 2014.  

For additional information contact:

Barbara Braunöck, Head of Corporate Communications Wienerberger
T +43 1 601 92 - 10149 | communication@wienerberger.com