British American Tobacco Regulatory News (BATS)

22 Mar 2007 12:39

British American Tobacco PLC22 March 2007 British American Tobacco p.l.c.22 March 2007 British American Tobacco p.l.c. received the following notification on 19 March2007:- QUOTE TR-1: Notification of Major Interests in Shares 1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares towhich voting rights are attached: British American Tobacco p.l.c. 2. Reason for the notification (please state Yes/No) An acquisition or disposal of voting rights (No) An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in theacquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached (No) An event changing the breakdown of voting rights (No) Other (please specify): Transitional Provision 7 to the Disclosure andTransparency Rules (the DTRs) requires a person to notify the issuer by 20 March2007 if he holds a notifiable percentage of voting rights and has not notifiedthat holding under the DTRs before that date. (Yes) 3. Full name of person(s) subject to the notification obligation: Compagnie Financiere Richemont S.A. 4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3): Compagnie Financiere Richemont S.A. (indirect) Richemont S.A. (indirect) R&R Holdings S.A. (direct) 5. Date of the transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed orreached if different): N/A (notification made under Transitional Provision 7 to the DTRs and not as aresult of a triggering transaction). 6. Date on which issuer notified: 19 March 2007 7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: 29 per cent 8. Notified details: A. Voting rights attached to sharesClass/type of Situation Resultingshares previous to the situation after Triggering the triggering transaction transaction Number of Number of Number of Number of % of voting Shares Voting Rights shares voting rights rights Direct Direct Indirect Direct IndirectOrdinary shares 604,336,627 604,336,627 604,336,627 604,336,627 29.3%of 25 penceeach ISIN: GB0002875804 B. Financial Instruments Resulting situation after the triggering transaction Type of financial Expiration date Exercise/Conversion Number of voting rights % of voting rightsinstrument Period/Date that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/convertedN/A Total (A+B) Number of voting rights % of voting rights 604,336,627 29.3 per cent. 9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/orthe financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable: R&R Holdings S.A. is a direct shareholder of the issuer (holding 604,336,627ordinary shares of 25 pence each). Richemont S.A. is the parent undertaking ofR&R Holdings S.A. for the purposes of the DTRs. Compagnie Financiere RichemontS.A. is Richemont S.A.'s own parent undertaking for those purposes. Proxy voting 10. Name of the proxy holder: N/A 11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold: N/A 12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights: N/A 13. Additional information: The total number of voting rights in the issuer used to calculate the relevantpercentages in this notification was 2,062,435,425, being the number disclosedby the issuer to the market on 1 March 2007. This notification is made under Transitional Provision 7 of the DTRs. 14. Contact name: Alan Grieve / Judith Sanders 15. Contact telephone number: +41 22 721 3502 / +41 22 721 3504 UNQUOTE Geoffrey Cunnington Deputy Secretary British American Tobacco p.l.c. Tel: 020 7845 1925 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange