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Solvay shares
The Solvay shares are either bearer shares (in denominations of 1, 10, 100 or 1 000 shares) or registered shares, at the shareholder’s choice. Shares may be converted through a simple request to the company, accompanied by the shareownership certificate. This possibility of changing bearer shares into registered shares is particularly attractive in the context of the dematerialization of bearer shares from January 1, 2008 onwards :

Service Actionnaires,
rue du Prince Albert 33,
B-1050 Brussels (Belgium),
T. +32-2-509.63.09
e-mail : pascal.hubinont@solvay.com

Each share entitles its holder to one vote whenever voting takes place (except for the shares held by Solvay S.A. itself, the voting rights for which are suspended). All shares are equal and common. The share is listed on Euronext Brussels.

At December 31, 2008, the capital of Solvay S.A. was represented by 84,701,133 shares, including 2,567,568 shares held by Solvay itself to cover the stock option program.

Stock options plans
In December 1999, the company introduced a new annual stock option program for Group executives worldwide. This program is covered by own shares purchased by Solvay S.A. on the stock exchange. Authorizations of this new system have been granted several times by extraordinary Shareholders’ Meetings for 18-month periods each time. The extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of May 13, 2008 renewed this authorization for a further 18 months.

Since January 2007, the covering program has been taken over by Solvay Stock Option Management S.A., a subsidiary of Solvay S.A. Voting and dividend rights attached to these shares are suspended as long as they are held by the company.

In 2008, stock options representing a total of 66 120 shares were exercised (it should be noted that options are in principle exercisable over a period of 5 years after being frozen for 3 years). The total number of stock options exercised break down as follows:

• 1999 stock option plan: 434 800 shares
• 2000 stock option plan:477 060 shares
• 2001 stock option plan:388 450 shares
• 2002 stock option plan:318 100 shares
• 2003 stock option plan:205 500 shares
• 2004 stock option plan:12 700 shares