KONECRANES PLC DISCONTINUES GRANTING STOCK OPTIONS AND SWITCHES TO KEY EMPLOYEES’ PERFORMANCE-BASED SHARE PLAN

KONECRANES PLC  STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE  March 22, 2012 at 4.00 p.m.

Konecranes Plc will discontinue granting stock options as a part of key employees’ incentive program. In order to replace the stock options plans, the Board of Directors of Konecranes Plc has resolved to implement a performance share plan according to which earning reward is based on attainment of targets determined by the Board of Directors. The aim of the new plan is to combine the objectives of the shareholders and key employees in order to increase the value of the Company, to commit key employees to the Company, and to offer them a competitive reward plan based on long-term shareholding in the Company.

The plan consists of three one-year discretionary periods as well as three approximately three-year discretionary periods. The discretionary periods will begin in the beginning of years 2012, 2013 and 2014. The Board of Directors of the Company will decide on the Plan’s performance criteria and on their targets at the beginning of each discretionary period. Earning during the one-year discretionary period beginning on 1 January 2012 will be based on the Konecranes Group´s EBIT margin, and during the three-year discretionary period beginning on 1 January 2012 on the Total Shareholder Return of the Company’s share (TSR). The potentially earned reward will be paid in spring 2015. If a key employee’s employment or service ends before the end of a discretionary period, no reward will be paid on the basis of such discretionary period.

The Board of Directors requires that each member of the Extended Management Team holds a half of shares paid on the basis of the Plan until the value of his or her shareholding in the Company in total corresponds to the value of his or her annual gross salary. Such number of shares will be held as long as his or her employment or service in a Group company continues.

The target group of the Plan consists of approximately 150 people. The rewards to be paid on the basis of the discretionary periods beginning on 1 January 2012 correspond to the value of an approximate maximum total of 700,000 Konecranes Plc shares. If the targets determined by the Board of Directors are achieved, the reward payout will be a half of the maximum reward. The maximum reward payout requires that the targets are clearly exceeded.

KONECRANES PLC

Miikka Kinnunen
Director, Investor Relations



FURTHER INFORMATION
Miikka Kinnunen, Director, Investor Relations, tel. +358 20 427 2050



Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity-enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment and machine tools of all makes. In 2011, Group sales totaled EUR 1,896 million. The Group has 11,700 employees at 609 locations in 47 countries. Konecranes is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (symbol: KCR1V).



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NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Major media
www.konecranes.com