Financial Review continued Reportofthe Reportofthe Financial Other Contents Overview Executive Board Supervisory Board Statements Information Financing and liquidity Equity attributable to equity holders of the Company increased by EUR1,126 million to EUR13,535 million, mainly driven by net profit of EUR1,892 million being partly offset by dividends paid of EUR676 million. Total gross debt amounts to EUR12.565 million (2014: EUR11,757 million). Net debt1 increased to EUR11,510 million (2014: EUR10.910 million) as the cash outflow for dividends, share buyback, acquisitions and foreign currency impact on debt exceeded the strong FOCF and proceeds of the EMPAQUE divestment. HEINEKEN remains focused on cash flow generation and disciplined working capital management, with a commitment to a long-term target net debt/ EBITDA (beia) ratio of below 2.5. The net debt/EBITDA (beia) ratio was 2.4 on 31 December 2015 (2014:2.5). In 2015, HEINEKEN extended its EUR2.500 million revolving credit facility by one year and the facility matures now in 2020. The facility is committed by a group of 19 banks and has one further one-year extension option. On 10 September 2015, HEINEKEN issued 6-year Notes for a principal amount of EUR500 million with a coupon of 1.25 percent. In October HEINEKEN privately placed EUR540 million of 7-year USD Notes, 8-year and 10-year EUR Notes, with a weighted average yield of approximately 2.4 per cent. On 1 December 2015, HEINEKEN issued 9-year Notes for a principal amount of EUR460 million with a coupon of 1.5 per cent. All these Notes have been issued under HEINEKEN's Euro Medium Term Note Programme. The proceeds of the Notes were used for general corporate purposes. In 2015, HEINEKEN has launched a EUR1.000 million Euro Commercial Paper programme to facilitate its cash management operations and to further diversify its funding sources. EUR237 million was in issue as per 31 December 2015. Heineken N.V. was assigned solid investment grade credit ratings by Moody's Investor Service and Standard Poor's in 2012. The ratings from both agencies, Baal /P-2 and BBB+/A-2 respectively, have 'stable' outlooks as per the date of the 2015 Annual Report. Following the completion of the divestment of EMPAQUE in February 2015, HEINEKEN announced that it would deploy up to EUR750 million of the proceeds for a share buyback program in 2015. HEINEKEN announced with its third quarter trading update on 28 October 2015 that it would discontinue the share buyback in light of the recently announced acquisitions. HEINEKEN purchased 5,229,279 shares for a total consideration of EUR365 million. Currency split of net debt This currency breakdown includes the effect of derivatives, which are used to hedge intercompany lending denominated in currencies other than Euro. Of total net interest-bearing debt, 55 per cent is denominated in Euro and 33 per cent is US dollar-related. This is including the effect of cross-currency interest rate swaps on some of the non-Euro denominated debt. The fair value of these cross-currency interest rate swaps form part of net debt. 1 HEINEKEN has amended its net debt definition to include derivative financial instruments designated as cash flow hedges if these hedges are considered to be inextricably linked to the underlying borrowings. The change in this definition has resulted in a reduction in net debt of EUR215 million at December 2015 and EUR166 million at 31 December 2014. 32 Heineken N.V. Annual Report 2015

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