diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 79d099b8e890..bcc7c361e1b2 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.12.15
+0.12.16
diff --git a/docs/source/support/release-notes.rst b/docs/source/support/release-notes.rst
index 7e7b296a0e5a..177d336390e5 100644
--- a/docs/source/support/release-notes.rst
+++ b/docs/source/support/release-notes.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ This page contains release notes for the SDK.
 HEAD — ongoing
 --------------
 
+0.12.16 - 2019-05-07
+--------------------
+
 - Fix two issues related to contract key visibility within a single update: `#969 <https://github.com/digital-asset/daml/pull/969>`_ and `#973 <https://github.com/digital-asset/daml/pull/973>`_.
 - Java Codegen: variants with unserializable cases are now accepted (see `#946 <https://github.com/digital-asset/daml/pull/946>`_)
 - Java Bindings: ``CreateAndExerciseCommand`` is now properly converted in the Java Bindings data layer (see `#979 <https://github.com/digital-asset/daml/pull/979>`_)