Ontex: Transparency Declaration Notification

Disclosure made according to the requirements of Article 14 of the law of 2 May 2007

AALST-EREMBODEGEM, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Ontex Group NV (BSE:ONTEX) (“Ontex”) discloses the notification of significant shareholdings that it has received according to the Belgian Law of 2 May 2007 on the disclosure of significant shareholdings in listed companies.

On March 12, 2020, Morgan Stanley notified Ontex that it holds, as a result of the acquisition of voting securities, and the disposal of equivalent financial instruments, 6,092,552 voting rights in Ontex that may be acquired if all of the instruments are exercised. Morgan Stanley’s total holding in Ontex at the time of this disclosure remains above the 5.00% threshold previously disclosed at 7.40%; the disclosure obligation arose due to voting rights attached to shares going above 3.00% and at the same time equivalent financial instruments falling below 5.00%.

On March 16, 2020, Morgan Stanley notified Ontex that it holds, as a result of the acquisition of voting securities, and the disposal of equivalent financial instruments, 6,000,576 voting rights in Ontex that may be acquired if all of the instruments are exercised. Morgan Stanley’s total holding in Ontex at the time of this disclosure remains above the 5.00% threshold previously disclosed at 7.29%; the disclosure obligation arose due to voting rights that may be acquired if the instruments are exercised falling below 3.00% and at the same time total voting rights and equivalent financial instruments held by Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc falling below 5.00%.

On March 17, 2020, Morgan Stanley notified Ontex that it holds, as a result of the disposal of voting securities and the acquisition of equivalent financial instruments, 6,029,026 voting rights in Ontex that may be acquired if all of the instruments are exercised. Morgan Stanley’s total holding in Ontex at the time of this disclosure remains above the 5.00% threshold previously disclosed at 7.32%; the disclosure obligation arose due to voting rights attached to shares falling below 3.00%, voting rights that may be acquired if the instruments are exercised crossing above 3.00%, and at the same time total voting rights and equivalent financial instruments held by Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc crossing above 5.00%.

On March 18, 2020, Morgan Stanley notified Ontex that it holds, as a result of the disposal of voting securities and the acquisition of equivalent financial instruments, 5,773,806 voting rights in Ontex that may be acquired if all of the instruments are exercised. Morgan Stanley’s total holding in Ontex at the time of this disclosure remains above the 5.00% threshold previously disclosed at 7.01%; the disclosure obligation arose due to voting rights that may be acquired if the instruments are exercised crossing above 5.00%, and at the same equivalent financial instruments held by Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc crossing above 3.00%.

According to its obligation Ontex publishes the content of the notifications that it has received.

Dates of Notification: March 12, March 16, March 17, March 18, 2020
Dates Thresholds Crossed: March 6, March 10, March 11, March 12, 2020
Thresholds Crossed: 3.00% and 5.00%

Notification by:

Morgan Stanley

c/o The Corporation Trust Company (DE), Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, USA

Denominator on the dates of notification: 82,347,218 shares

Voting rights and assimilated financial instruments:

Notification of March 12, 2020:

(A) Voting rights	Previous notification	After the transaction
	# voting rights	# voting rights		% of voting rights
Holders of voting rights		Linked to securities	Not linked to securities	Linked to securities	Not linked to securities
Morgan Stanley	0	0	0	0.00%	0.00%
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc	0	3,055,049	0	3.71%	0.00%
Morgan Stanley Europe SE	0	24,189	0	0.03%	0.00%
Total	0	3,079,238	0	3.74%	0.00%

(B) Equivalent financial instruments	After the transaction
Holders of equivalent financial instruments	Type of financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise period or date	# of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised	% of voting rights	Settlement
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	180,326	0.22%	physical
Morgan Stanley Europe SE	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	1,073,632	1.30%	physical
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	81,504	0.10%	physical
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc	Equity Swap	10/03/2020	at any time	1,677,852	2.04%	cash
TOTAL				3,013,314	3.66%

	# voting rights	% of voting rights
TOTAL (A + B)	6,092,552	7.40%

Additional information

Morgan Stanley’s total holding in Ontex remains above the 5% threshold previously disclosed however, the disclosure obligation arose due to voting rights attached to shares going above 3% and at the same time equivalent financial instruments falling below 5%.

Notification of March 16, 2020:

(A) Voting rights	Previous notification	After the transaction
	# voting rights	# voting rights		% of voting rights
Holders of voting rights		Linked to securities	Not linked to securities	Linked to securities	Not linked to securities
Morgan Stanley	0	0	0	0.00%	0.00%
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc	3,055,049	2,738,944	0	3.33%	0.00%
Morgan Stanley Europe SE	24,189	869,070	0	1.06%	0.00%
Total	3,079,238	3,608,014	0	4.38%	0.00%

(B) Equivalent financial instruments	After the transaction
Holders of equivalent financial instruments	Type of financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise period or date	# of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised	% of voting rights	Settlement
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	1,218,667	1.48%	physical
Morgan Stanley Europe SE	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	1,097,821	1.33%	physical
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	76,074	0.09%	physical
TOTAL				2,392,562	2.91%

	# voting rights	% of voting rights
TOTAL (A + B)	6,000,576	7.29%

Additional information

Morgan Stanley's total holding in Ontex remains above the 5% threshold previously disclosed however the disclosure obligation arose due to equivalent financial instruments falling below 3% and at the same time the total voting rights and equivalent financial instruments held by Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc falling below 5%.

Notification of March 17, 2020:

(A) Voting rights	Previous notification	After the transaction
	# voting rights	# voting rights		% of voting rights
Holders of voting rights		Linked to securities	Not linked to securities	Linked to securities	Not linked to securities
Morgan Stanley	0	0	0	0.00%	0.00%
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc	2,738,944	2,289,942	0	2.78%	0.00%
Morgan Stanley Europe SE	869,070	0	0	0.00%	0.00%
Total	3,608,014	2,289,942	0	2.78%	0.00%

(B) Equivalent financial instruments	After the transaction
Holders of equivalent financial instruments	Type of financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise period or date	# of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised	% of voting rights	Settlement
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	76,074	0.09%	physical
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	2,306,604	2.80%	physical
Morgan Stanley Europe SE	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	1,356,406	1.65%	physical
TOTAL				3,739,084	4.54%

	# voting rights	% of voting rights
TOTAL (A + B)	6,029,026	7.32%

Additional information

Morgan Stanley's total holding in Ontex remains above the 5% threshold previously disclosed however the disclosure obligation arose due to equivalent financial instruments crossing above 3%, voting rights falling below 3% and the total voting rights and equivalent financial instruments held by Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc crossing above 5%.

Notification of March 18, 2020:

(A) Voting rights	Previous notification	After the transaction
	# voting rights	# voting rights		% of voting rights
Holders of voting rights		Linked to securities	Not linked to securities	Linked to securities	Not linked to securities
Morgan Stanley	0	0	0	0.00%	0.00%
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc	2,289,942	367,048	0	0.45%	0.00%
Total	2,289,942	367,048	0	0.45%	0.00%

(B) Equivalent financial instruments	After the transaction
Holders of equivalent financial instruments	Type of financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise period or date	# of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised	% of voting rights	Settlement
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	76,074	0.09%	physical
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	3,974,278	4.83%	physical
Morgan Stanley Europe SE	Right of recall over securities lending agreements	at any time	at any time	1,356,406	1.65%	physical
TOTAL				5,406,758	6.57%

	# voting rights	% of voting rights
TOTAL (A + B)	5,773,806	7.01%

Additional information

Morgan Stanley's total holding in Ontex remains above the 5% threshold previously disclosed however the disclosure obligation arose due to equivalent financial instruments crossing above 5% in its own right while at the same time, Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc's holding in equivalent financial instruments crossed above the 3% threshold.

Full chain of controlled undertakings through which the holding is effectively held

Chain of controlled undertakings for Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc

• Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc, Legal & Compliance Department, 25 Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4QA, UNITED KINGDOM. is a direct holder and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Investments (UK)

• Morgan Stanley Investments (UK), 20 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4AD, UNITED KINGDOM. is an indirect holder and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley International Limited

• Morgan Stanley International Limited, 25 Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4QA, UNITED KINGDOM. is an indirect holder and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley International Holdings Inc.

• Morgan Stanley International Holdings Inc., c/o The Corporation Trust Company (DE), Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, USA. is an indirect holder and is a subsidiary of the beneficial owner, Morgan Stanley

Chain of controlled undertakings for Morgan Stanley Europe SE

• Morgan Stanley Europe SE, Grosse Gallusstrasse 18, Frankfurt am Main, 60312, Germany. is a direct holder and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Europe Holding SE

• Morgan Stanley Europe Holding SE, Grosse Gallusstrasse 18, Frankfurt am Main, 60312, Germany. is an indirect holder and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley International Limited

• Morgan Stanley International Limited, 25 Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4QA, UNITED KINGDOM. is an indirect holder and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley International Holdings Inc.

• Morgan Stanley International Holdings Inc., c/o The Corporation Trust Company (DE), Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, USA. is an indirect holder and is a subsidiary of the beneficial owner, Morgan Stanley

Chain of controlled undertakings for Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC

• Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, c/o The Corporation Trust Company (DE), Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, USA. is a direct holder and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Domestic Holdings, Inc.

• Morgan Stanley Domestic Holdings, Inc., c/o The Corporation Trust Company (DE), Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, USA. is an indirect holder and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Capital Management, LLC

• Morgan Stanley Capital Management, LLC, c/o The Corporation Trust Company (DE), Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, USA. is an indirect holder and is a subsidiary of the beneficial owner, Morgan Stanley

Notifications of significant shareholdings to be made according to the Law of 2 May 2007 should be sent to: [e-mail]

This notification will be posted on: http://www.ontexglobal.com/press-room

About Ontex

Ontex is a leading international provider of personal hygiene solutions, with expertise in baby care, feminine care and adult care. Ontex’s innovative products are distributed in more than 110 countries through Ontex brands such as BBTips, BioBaby, Pompom, Bigfral, Canbebe, Canped, ID and Serenity, as well as leading retailer brands.

Employing 11,000 passionate people all over the world, Ontex has a presence in 21 countries, with its headquarters in Aalst, Belgium. Ontex is part of the Bel20 and STOXX® Europe 600.

To keep up with the latest news, visit www.ontexglobal.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.