BUSINESS: Financial Safilo Group’s Board Expanded to Nine Members By Staff Wednesday, August 8, 2012 12:17 AM PADUA, Italy— Safilo Group’s (SFL.MI) board candidates were approved yesterday at the company’s ordinary shareholders’ meeting. The new board, which has been expanded to nine members, will hold office until the Dec. 31, 2014 financial statements are approved, a company statement said. In addition, the board reappointed Roberto Vedovotto as Safilo Group CEO. Safilo Group’s board chairman is Robert Polet, the first candidate of the majority list presented by the shareholder Multibrands Italy B.V. (the company controlled by HAL Holding N.V.), holder of a total of 26,073,783 ordinary shares of the Safilo Group, equal to 42.23 percent of the share capital with the right to vote in the shareholders' meeting. Also from the majority list, Melchert F. Groot, Roberto Vedovotto, Giovanni Ciserani, Jeffrey A. Cole, Marco Jesi, Eugenio Razelli and Luisa Deplazes de Andrade Delgado were elected to the board. Board members Deplazes de Andrade Delgado, Ciserani, Cole, Jesi and Razelli declared they” hold the requirements of independence” in accordance with the provisions and articles of Italian law and the Borsa Italiana S.p.A. From the minority list presented by the shareholder Only 3T. S.r.l., holder of a total of 5,692,658 ordinary shares of the company, equal to 9.22 percent of the share capital with the right to vote in the shareholders' meeting, Massimiliano Tabacchi was elected. As of today, board members Vedovotto, Jesi, Cole and Tabacchi own respectively 240,000, 10,000, 1,250 and 43,590 ordinary shares of Safilo Group S.p.A.. Further details and documentation are posted on the company's website at http://www.safilo.com/en/investors.html.