Irish Cont. Regulatory News (ICGC)

27 Jul 2007 11:43

Irish Continental Group PLC27 July 2007 Irish Continental Group plc ("ICG" or the "Company") 27 July 2007 Offer Update Announcement On 23 July 2007 the independent directors of ICG (the "Independent Directors")announced that on 19 July 2007 the Independent Directors wrote to bothMoonduster Limited ("Moonduster") and Aella plc ("Aella") requesting them toconfirm to the Independent Directors, by no later than 12.00 p.m. on 26 July2007, the highest price per ICG Unit which they are currently prepared to offerto acquire the Company and also their intentions in the event that theIndependent Directors recommend an offer other than their own offer. Moonduster controls the voting of approximately 20.38 per cent. of the issuedshare capital of the Company and Aella's shareholders own, or have an interestin, approximately 17.19 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company. Assuch the Independent Directors continue to believe that on the basis of theircurrent shareholdings, neither the Moonduster Offer nor the Aella Offer, each ata price of €22.00 per ICG Unit, will be capable of implementation without thesupport of the other party. Since 23 July 2007, the Company and its advisers have endeavoured to progressmatters with both Aella and Moonduster, and the Independent Directors are now ofthe view that it would be in the best interests of shareholders to extendyesterday's deadline to 5.00 p.m. on Monday 30 July 2007. Shareholders should note that there is no guarantee that an offer with animproved certainty of execution will be forthcoming as a result of the currentprocess. A further announcement will follow in due course. Enquiries: Irish Continental Group plc Telephone +353 1 855 2222Independent DirectorsJohn B McGuckian NCB Corporate Finance Telephone +353 1 611 5611Liam BoothJonathan SimmonsShane Lawlor Drury Communications Telephone +353 1 260 5000Billy MurphyPaddy Hughes The Independent Directors of Irish Continental Group plc accept responsibilityfor the information contained in this announcement. To the best of theirknowledge and belief (having taken all reasonable care to ensure that such isthe case), the information contained in this announcement for which they takeresponsibility is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likelyto affect the import of such information. NCB Corporate Finance Limited, which is authorised in Ireland by the FinancialRegulator under the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995, is acting exclusivelyfor Irish Continental Group plc and no one else in connection with theacquisition and will not be responsible to anyone other than Irish ContinentalGroup plc for providing the protections afforded to clients of NCB CorporateFinance Limited nor for providing advice in relation to the acquisition. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange