26th May 2006 13:00
SABMiller PLC26 May 2006 SABMILLER ANNOUNCES AN EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENT COMPANY SECRETARY AND GENERAL COUNSEL London and Johannesburg, 26 May 2006. SABMiller plc (SABMiller) is pleased toannounce that John Davidson, currently a senior corporate partner at Lovells, aleading London-based international law firm, has agreed to take up the mantle ofCompany Secretary and General Counsel at SABMiller plc on the planned retirementof the current Company Secretary, Andrew Tonkinson. The changeover is expectedto be effective during August this year. John will join the SABMiller ExecutiveCommittee. John has worked extensively with SABMiller for a number of years, starting in1998 when Lovells were appointed UK legal advisers to SAB for the groupreconstruction and re-listing of the holding company in the UK, and includingnotably the Miller Brewing Company and Bavaria S.A. transactions in 2002 and2005. Graham Mackay, Chief Executive, commented: "I am very pleased to welcome John to SABMiller. He brings a combination ofextensive legal experience as well as considerable knowledge of the beerindustry gained as an adviser to the Group. He will be an excellent addition tothe management team at SABMiller and we all look forward to working with him. "Lovells has made a significant contribution to SABMiller's progress over theperiod of our association, based on the firm's client dedication, legalknowledge, quality service and organisational capability. We hope that John'sappointment will result in us continuing to benefit from this well foundedrelationship.'' David Harris, Lovells Managing Partner, said: "John is a first class lawyer and has advised SABMiller over many years, duringwhich he has developed a very good understanding of their commercial and legalrequirements. We look forward very much to continuing to work closely with Johnin his new role." Ends Notes to editors: John Davidson biography John Davidson is from Motherwell in Scotland, studied law at Oxford University,and has spent his entire legal career with Lovells, becoming a partner in 1991,and including five years in Lovells' New York office from 1990 to 1995. As apartner, he has spent the last 15 years working mainly on internationalcorporate finance, cross border mergers and acquisitions and securitiestransactions, as well as general corporate advisory work, and in addition to hiswork for SABMiller, he has extensive experience on transactions in the insuranceindustry. He is a member of the Company Law Sub-Committee of the City of LondonLaw Society, and is listed as a leading corporate finance lawyer in ChambersGuide to the UK Legal Profession. He is also recognized as a leading lawyer inthe fields of mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance by TheInternational Who's Who of Merger and Acquisitions Lawyers and The InternationalWho's Who of Corporate Governance Lawyers. He is married, with four sons. SABMiller SABMiller plc is one of the world's largest brewers with brewing interests ordistribution agreements in over 60 countries across five continents. The group'sbrands include premium international beers such as Miller Genuine Draft, PeroniNastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell, as well as an exceptional range of marketleading local brands. Outside the USA, SABMiller plc is also one of the largestbottlers of Coca-Cola products in the world. In the year ended 31 March 2006, the group reported US$2,626 million adjustedpre-tax profit and a turnover of US$15,307 million. SABMiller plc is listed onthe London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. This announcement is available on the company website: www.sabmiller.com High resolution images are available for the media to view and download free ofcharge from: www.vismedia.co.uk Enquiries: SABMiller plc Tel: +44 20 7659 0100 Sue Clark Director of Corporate Affairs Tel: +44 20 7659 0184 Gary Leibowitz Senior Vice President, Investor Tel: +44 20 7659 0174 Relations James Crampton Media Relations Manager Tel: +44 20 7659 0172 Lovells Chris Hinze Head of Public Relations Tel: +44 20 7296 2745 This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or issue or thesolicitation of an offer to buy or acquire securities of SABMiller plc (the"Company") or any of its affiliates in any jurisdiction or an inducement toenter into investment activity. This document includes "forward-looking statements". These statements maycontain the words "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect" andwords of similar meaning. All statements other than statements of historicalfacts included in this announcement, including, without limitation, thoseregarding the Company's financial position, business strategy, plans andobjectives of management for future operations (including development plans andobjectives relating to the Company's products and services) are forward-lookingstatements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results,performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different fromfuture results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by suchforward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based onnumerous assumptions regarding the Company's present and future businessstrategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future.These forward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this announcement. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminateany updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in thisannouncement to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regardthereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any suchstatement is based. Any information contained in this announcement on the price at which theCompany's securities have been bought or sold in the past, or on the yield onsuch securities, should not be relied upon as a guide to future performance. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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