Denomination must be carried out while preserving the existing proportionality among the stockholders of the capital company and minimising amendments to the equity capital. The equity capital of a capital company consists of the number of stocks multiplied by the nominal value of an equity capital stock.

Requirements:

• both the amount of the equity capital and the nominal value of a stock must be expressed in whole euros and cents (i.e. divisible by 10 without remainder).
• when recalculating the nominal value of one stock, the established euro exchange rate must be applied;
• the recalculated amount shall be rounded down;
• if a certain amount remains from each stock of the equity capital, it shall either be paid out to the stockholders of the company in proportion to the stocks of the equity capital held by them or transferred to the reserves of the capital company;
• only such value may be transferred to reserves or paid out to stockholders that, at the existing nominal value, cannot be expressed in new stocks while preserving the proportionality among stockholders;
• as a result of denomination, the equity capital may be reduced by a maximum of 1.6%, however, this may be done only where, at the specified nominal value of a stock, new stocks cannot be issued from the remainder while maintaining the existing proportionality among the stockholders.