Issue of preference shares

27 Jul 2006 09:38

Ecclesiastical Insurance Office PLC27 July 2006 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES,CANADA OR JAPAN 27 July 2006 Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc Issue of 8.625 per cent. Irredeemable Preference Shares Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc (the "Company") announces the placing of3,500,000 additional 8.625 per cent Non-Cumulative Irredeemable PreferenceShares of £1 each ("Preference Shares"), in order to provide additional capitalto support the growth of the Company. Application will be made to the UK Listing Authority and the London StockExchange for admission to listing and trading of the additional PreferenceShares which will, from the date of their admission to listing and trading, rankpari passu in all respects and be fungible with the Company's existing62,950,000 issued and listed Preference Shares, thereby increasing the issuesize to 66,450,000. The anticipated admission and settlement date is 3 August2006. The placing is being effected by JPMorgan Cazenove on behalf of the Company. Enquiries: George Prescott, Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc, 01452 528533 Francis Burkitt, JPMorgan Cazenove, 020 7155 4924 This announcement does not constitute, or form part of, any offer or invitationto sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for,any preference shares, nor shall it (or any part of it) or the fact of itsdistribution, form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, or act asany inducement to enter into, any contract therefor. This announcement is being directed solely at and may only be communicated to(i) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investmentsfalling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000(Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the Order) (ii) persons fallingwithin Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order and (iii) other persons to whom itmay otherwise lawfully be communicated (all such persons together being referredto as "relevant persons"). This announcement must not be acted on or relied onby persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activityto which this announcement relates is available only to relevant persons andwill be engaged in only with relevant persons. No reliance may be placed for any purpose whatsoever on the completeness,accuracy or fairness of the information contained in this announcement. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made or given by or onbehalf of the Company, JPMorgan Cazenove Limited ("JPMorgan Cazenove") or any oftheir respective parent or subsidiary undertakings or the subsidiaryundertakings of any such parent undertakings or any of such person's directors,officers or employees or any other person as to the accuracy, completeness orfairness of the information or opinions contained in this announcement and noresponsibility or liability is accepted by any person for such information oropinions. This announcement is for distribution in the UK only and should not bedistributed, published or reproduced in whole or in part or disclosed byrecipients to any other person. The distribution of this announcement and theoffering and sale of the preference shares in certain jurisdictions may berestricted by law and therefore persons into whose possession this announcementcomes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Anyfailure to comply with these restrictions could result in a violation of thelaws of such jurisdiction. This announcement does not constitute an offer of, orthe solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for, any preference sharesto any person in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such an offer orsolicitation is unlawful and, in particular, is not for distribution in or intoCanada, Japan or the United States of America. JPMorgan Cazenove, which is authorised and regulated in the UK by the FinancialServices Authority, is acting exclusively for the Company in relation to theplacing and is not advising any person or treating any person as its customer inrelation to the placing and is not advising any person or treating any person asits customer in relation to the matters referred to in this document and willnot be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing theprotections afforded to customers of JPMorgan Cazenove or for affording adviceon the contents of this document or otherwise in relation to the placing. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange