HIBU.L Regulatory News (HIBU)

For Immediate Release 25 October 2012

hibu plc("hibu" or the "Group")

Update on capital restructuring

In July 2012, hibu announced that it was seeking to form a co-ordinating committee of the lenders (the "CoCom") under its facilities agreement dated 30 November 2009 (as amended) to represent the interests of those lenders during the process of determining an appropriate new capital structure. The CoCom was formed, and with its support, the Group obtained certain waivers in August and September from its lenders to enable, among other things, substantive discussions to take place around a balance sheet restructuring. The Group remains in active and constructive dialogue with the CoCom.

As is customary in capital restructurings, the Group has decided that it is appropriate to suspend all further payments of principal and interest to the Group's lenders until such time as a restructuring of its balance sheet can be concluded. In view of this decision, a number of waivers, consents and amendments are being sought from the wider lending group in the coming days so that the restructuring discussions can proceed as efficiently and effectively as possible. The CoCom, which holds, manages or has a beneficial interest in c.24% of the debt under the 2009 facilities agreement, has unanimously agreed to support these waivers, subject to credit committee approval. In addition, the Group has decided to cancel its undrawn and unavailable revolving credit facility.

As a result, no payments are expected to be made to any term loan lender under the facilities agreements dated 30 November 2009 (as amended). Similarly, no payments are expected to be made to any lender under the facilities agreements dated 27 April 2006 (as amended) other than certain incentive related payments relating to amendments sought from those lenders.

The waivers, consents and amendments will require the approval of lenders under the 2009 facilities agreement holding two thirds of the debt by value under that agreement and the approval of lenders under the 2006 facilities agreement. A meeting is scheduled for later today at which the requests will be presented to the lenders. The Group currently intends to launch one or more schemes of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 to give effect to necessary arrangements if insufficient lenders vote in favour of them.

This decision impacts only the lenders under the aforementioned facilities agreements and in no way impacts payments to our employees, partners, suppliers, trade or other creditors or any other counterparty. The Group retains healthy cash balances and therefore the decision is not driven by liquidity considerations, but rather a desire to ensure fair and equitable treatment of all financial lenders consistent with the overall balance sheet restructuring that is anticipated.

This is an important step in the restructuring process which began earlier this year. The Group, working together with the CoCom, aims to present a restructuring proposal to its lenders by the end of January 2013 and to complete a successful restructuring of its debt obligations before the end of the first half of calendar 2013.

As previously stated, a number of capital structure options are being considered. The Group can confirm that the options being considered are likely to result in little or no value being attributed to the Group's ordinary shares.

ENDS

About hibu

hibu helps communities thrive by facilitating millions of connections each year between consumers who want to find products and services locally and the merchants who provide them.

hibu helps consumers find local businesses and shop in new, innovative ways. Its dedicated online hibu markets provide comprehensive, convenient access to local goods and services. hibu helps merchants compete in the digital world with a broad range of marketing and commerce solutions delivered online and through hibu's direct sales teams. Building on its heritage as a premier directories provider, hibu continues to offer a full range of print- and distribution-based marketing services.

hibu operates in the UK, US, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Peru and US Hispanic markets. In the year ended 31 March 2012, hibu had 1.2 million SME customers and total revenues of £1.6 billion.

For further information about hibu, visit hibu.com.

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