| Thu 24 Jun 2004, 11:51 | | FORMAL WITHDRAWAL OF SABMILLER OFFER |
|
SABMILLER PLC - FORMAL WITHDRAWAL OF SABMILLER OFFER ACCEPTANCE OF ANHEUSER-
BUSCH OFFER
JSEALPHA CODE: SAB
ISSUER CODE: SOSAB
ISIN CODE: GB0004835483
SABMiller plc
(incorporated in England and Wales with limited liability)
SABMiller (PRC) Holdings Limited
(incorporated in the British Virgin Islands with limited liability)
As required by the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong, the following
announcement was released to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, 21 June
2004.
Conditional voluntary offer by Anglo Chinese Corporate Finance, Limited on
behalf of SABMiller (PRC) Holdings Limited, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary
of SABMiller plc, for all the issued shares of Harbin Brewery Group Limited
other than those held by SABMiller (PRC) Holdings Limited and parties acting in
concert with it.
Formal withdrawal of SABMiller Offer
Acceptance of Anheuser-Busch Offer
Following the despatch by Anheuser-Busch of its offer document
on 18th June, 2004:
SABMiller (PRC) Holdings Limited formally withdraws its offer
made on 24th May 2004, with the consent of the Executive
Gardwell Limited, an indirect subsidiary of SABMiller plc and
the owner of 29.4% of Harbin Brewery, has accepted the
Anheuser-Busch Offer, which more than fully values the Harbin
Brewery business
Anheuser-Busch will pay Gardwell Limited US$211 million in
cash for its shares in Harbin Brewery
Reference is made to:
the announcement dated 3rd June, 2004 issued by SABMiller plc (the `SABMiller
Announcement`) in relation to the proposed withdrawal of the conditional
voluntary offer by Anglo Chinese Corporate Finance, Limited on behalf of
SABMiller (PRC) Holdings Limited for all the issued shares in Harbin Brewery
Group Limited (`Harbin Brewery`), other than those held by SABMiller (PRC)
Holdings Limited and parties acting in concert with it (the `SABMiller Offer`);
and
the offer document dated 18th June, 2004 issued by Anheuser-Busch Hong Kong
Investment Company, Limited (`Anheuser-Busch`) in relation to its HK$5.58 per
share cash offer for Harbin Brewery (the `Anheuser-Busch Offer`).
As stated in the SABMiller Announcement, the Executive Director of the Corporate
Finance Division of the Securities and Futures Commission (the `Executive`) has
granted his consent to the withdrawal of the SABMiller Offer (only for the
purpose of Rule 5 of the Hong Kong Code on Takeovers and Mergers), conditional
on Anheuser-Busch posting its offer document on or before the first closing date
of the SABMiller Offer. Now that this condition has been fulfilled, SABMiller
(PRC) Holdings Limited formally withdraws the SABMiller Offer.
Gardwell Limited, an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller plc, has
today accepted the Anheuser-Busch Offer in respect of 295,000,000 shares in
Harbin Brewery, representing approximately 29.4% of the issued share capital of
Harbin Brewery and being all the shares in Harbin Brewery owned by Gardwell
Limited.
By order of the board of By order of the board of
SABMiller plc SABMiller (PRC) Holdings
E.A.G. Mackay Limited
Chief Executive C.D. Vaughan
Director
Hong Kong, 18th June, 2004
The directors of SABMiller plc and SABMiller (PRC) Holdings Limited jointly and
severally accept full responsibility for the accuracy of the information
contained in this announcement, and confirm, having made all reasonable
inquiries, that to the best of their knowledge, opinions expressed in this
announcement have been arrived at after due and careful consideration and there
are no other facts not contained in this announcement, the omission of which
would make any statement in this announcement misleading.
Date: 24/06/2004 11:30:04 AM
Produced by the JSE SENS Department
