Irish Cont. Regulatory News (ICGC)

1 Nov 2007 09:16

Irish Continental Group PLC01 November 2007 Irish Continental Group plc ("ICG" or the "Company") End of Offer Period 1 November 2007 The Independent Directors note the announcement of 24 October 2007 from theIrish Takeover Panel. In accordance with that announcement, as of midnight lastnight ICG is no longer in an offer period. Commenting on behalf of the Independent Directors, Chairman, John B McGuckiansaid: "The offer period for ICG commenced on 8 March 2007. Since 8 March 2007Moonduster has acquired an interest in approximately 25.9 per cent of the issuedshare capital of the Company, South Morston Investment Company Limited, acompany controlled by Mr. Liam Carroll and associates, has acquired an interestin approximately 26.3 per cent of the issued share capital of the Company, andthe parties interested in Aella, namely the senior management of ICG, have aninterest in approximately 16.9 per cent of the issued share capital of theCompany. These competing interests in ICG and the resulting concentration ofshareholdings has meant that it has not been possible to bring forward an offerto shareholders through a scheme of arrangement that would obtain the necessary75 per cent level of shareholder approval. The aforementioned competing interests to acquire control of, or build asubstantial stake in, ICG has increased the ICG share price to €26 andshareholders have had an opportunity to sell their ICG shares if they wished todo so. However, looking ahead, if the shareholdings in the Company become moreconcentrated, liquidity in the shares may reduce and that may have a negativeeffect on the share price. A prolonged offer period is an inevitable distraction for a company and in thatsense the ending of the near eight month offer period is, in the absence of thelikelihood of any successful offer being made to ICG's shareholders, in the bestinterests of the Company." 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