Zentiva N.V. Wednesday said it has been informed by Anthiarose Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of PPF Group N.V., and Ceska pojistovna, a member of Generali PPF Holding N.V., that they have applied to the court of first instance in Amsterdam to initiate legal proceedings against the company to allow PPF to convene an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.

The agenda of PPF's proposed EGM would include the dismissal of all of the current Directors A and B of Zentiva; the appointment of five new Directors B put forward by PPF and requiring the Board to make further disclosures with regard to any agreements that have been entered into with Sanofi-Aventis.

The Board has not yet received the full court application, including the annexes thereto, and will carefully study these documents once they are received.

Nevertheless, on the basis of all available information the Board believes the legal proceedings that PPF has initiated are entirely without merit and the board intends to defend the Company against the court action.

The Board of Zentiva is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance and has at all times acted in the interests of all shareholders and other stakeholders.

On February 9, 2009 the Company will hold an extraordinary general meeting with the agenda that was previously announced.

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