26th Jan 2006 16:21
Persimmon PLC26 January 2006 Not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in, into or from the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 26 January 2006 RECOMMENDED CASH OFFER by CITIGROUP GLOBAL MARKETS LIMITED ("CITIGROUP") on behalf of PERSIMMON PLC ("PERSIMMON") for WESTBURY PLC ("WESTBURY") Posting of compulsory acquisition notices Further to the announcement made on 17 January 2006 that the Offer had beendeclared unconditional in all respects, Persimmon announces that, as at 3.00p.m. (London time) on 25 January 2006, Persimmon has acquired or received validacceptances of the Offer in respect of a total of 80,166,612 Westbury Shares,representing approximately 69.8 per cent. of Westbury's issued share capital. Asannounced on 24 November 2005, Persimmon acquired 30,000,000 Westbury Sharesthereby increasing its total holding of Westbury Shares to 30,000,001representing approximately 26.1 per cent. of Westbury's issued share capital.Accordingly, as at 3.00 p.m. (London time) on 25 January 2006, Persimmon eitherowned or had received valid acceptances in respect of a total of 110,166,613Westbury Shares representing approximately 95.9 per cent. of Westbury's issuedshare capital. As valid acceptances of the Offer have been received in respect of more thannine-tenths in value of Westbury Shares to which the Offer relates, Persimmonhas today sent to non-assenting Westbury Shareholders notices implementing theprocedure set out in sections 428 to 430F of the Companies Act 1985 to acquirecompulsorily those Westbury Shares which have not been assented to the Offer. The Offer will remain open for acceptance until further notice. Persimmon PLC Tel: 01904 642 199 Mike Killoran, Group Finance DirectorNeil Francis, Group Company Secretary Citigroup Global Markets Limited Tel: 020 7986 4000 Philip Robert-TissotDimitrios GeorgiouNigel Mills (Corporate Broking)Andrew Forrester (Corporate Broking) Finsbury Group Tel: 020 7251 3801 Edward OrlebarFaeth Birch Citigroup Global Markets Limited, which is authorised and regulated in theUnited Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority, is acting exclusively forPersimmon plc and for no one else in connection with the Offer and will not beresponsible to any other person for providing the protections afforded toclients of Citigroup Global Markets Limited or for providing advice in relationto the Offer. This announcement does not constitute, or form part of, any offer for, or anysolicitation of any offer for, securities. Any acceptance or other response tothe Offer should be made only on the basis of information referred to in theOffer Document. Terms defined in the Offer Document shall have the same meaning in thisannouncement. The release, publication or distribution of this announcement in certainjurisdictions may be restricted by law and therefore the persons in suchjurisdictions into which this announcement is released, published or distributedshould inform themselves of, and observe, any applicable restrictions. The Offer is not being made, directly or indirectly, in or into, or by the useof the mails of, or by any means or instrumentality (including, withoutlimitation, facsimile or electronic transmission, telex, internet or telephone)of interstate or foreign commerce of, or any facility of a national state orother securities exchange of, the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan andis not capable of acceptance by any such use, means, instrumentality orfacilities from or within the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan.Accordingly, copies of this announcement and all formal documentation relatingto the Offer are not being, and must not be, mailed or otherwise forwarded,distributed or sent in, into or from the United States, Canada, Australia orJapan. Persons receiving such documents (including, without limitation,nominees, trustees and custodians) should observe these restrictions and mustnot mail or otherwise forward, distribute or send such documents in, into orfrom the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. Doing so may invalidate anyrelated purported acceptance of the Offer. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Persimmon