GENERAL INFORMATION
Ternium S.A. (the “Company” or “Ternium”), was incorporated on December 22, 2003 to hold investments in flat and long steel manufacturing and distributing companies. The Company has an authorized share capital of a single class of 3.5 billion shares having a nominal value of USD 1.00 per share. As of December 31, 2017, there were 2,004,743,442 shares issued. All issued shares are fully paid.
Following a corporate reorganization carried out during fiscal year 2005, in January 2006 the Company successfully completed its registration process with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Ternium’s ADSs began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TX” on February 1, 2006. The Company’s initial public offering was settled on February 6, 2006.
The Company was initially established as a public limited liability company (société anonyme) under Luxembourg’s 1929 holding company regime. Until termination of such regime on December 31, 2010, holding companies incorporated under the 1929 regime (including the Company) were exempt from Luxembourg corporate and withholding tax over dividends distributed to shareholders.
On January 1, 2011, the Company became an ordinary public limited liability company (société anonyme) and, effective as from that date, the Company is subject to all applicable Luxembourg taxes (including, among others, corporate income tax on its worldwide income) and its dividend distributions will generally be subject to Luxembourg withholding tax. However, dividends received by the Company from subsidiaries in high income tax jurisdictions, as defined under Luxembourg law, will continue to be exempt from corporate income tax in Luxembourg under Luxembourg’s participation exemption.
As part of the Company’s corporate reorganization in connection with the termination of Luxembourg’s 1929 holding company regime, on December 6, 2010, the Company contributed its equity holdings in all its subsidiaries and all its financial assets to its Luxembourg wholly-owned subsidiary Ternium Investments S.à.r.l., or Ternium Investments, in exchange for newly issued corporate units of Ternium Investments. As the assets contributed were recorded at their historical carrying amount in accordance with Luxembourg GAAP, the Company’s December 2010 contribution of such assets to Ternium Investments resulted in a non-taxable revaluation of the accounting value of the Company’s assets under Luxembourg GAAP. The amount of the December 2010 revaluation was equal to the difference between the historical carrying amounts of the assets contributed and the value at which such assets were contributed and amounted to USD 4.0 billion. However, for the purpose of these consolidated financial statements, the assets contributed by Ternium to its wholly-owned subsidiary Ternium Investments were recorded based on their historical carrying amounts in accordance with IFRS, with no impact on the financial statements.
Following the completion of the corporate reorganization, and upon its conversion into an ordinary Luxembourg holding company, the Company voluntarily recorded a special reserve exclusively for tax-basis purposes. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, this special tax reserve amounted to USD 6.9 billion and USD 7.0 billion, respectively. The Company expects that, as a result of its corporate reorganization, its current overall tax burden will not increase, as all or substantially all of its dividend income will come from high income tax jurisdictions. In addition, the Company expects that dividend distributions for the foreseeable future will be imputed to the special reserve and therefore should be exempt from Luxembourg withholding tax under current Luxembourg law.
