21st Feb 2005 07:00
SABMiller PLC21 February 2005 SABMiller plc Conversion of Convertible Participating Shares 21 February 2005: SABMiller plc ('SABMiller') announces that the Board of Directors of SABMillerdetermined at its meeting on 18 February 2005, pursuant to a request from AltriaGroup, Inc. ('Altria') to convert 27,640,206 low-voting convertibleparticipating shares held by Altria into the same number of ordinary shares ofUS$0.10 each in SABMiller. On 9th December 2004 SABMiller exercised its right to call for the redemption ofits US$600m 4.25% convertible bonds and, following the exercise by bondholdersof their conversion rights, all bonds were converted into SABMiller ordinaryshares, resulting in the issue of 69,057,717 new shares. This, combined with theissuance of shares relating to share options, diluted Altria's voting interestto 23.28%. In accordance with its rights under the Relationship Agreement between SABMillerand Altria, Altria has elected to request SABMiller to convert sufficient lowvoting convertible participating shares into ordinary shares to reinstate itsvoting interest to 24.99%. An application for the new shares to be admitted to listing on the Official Listand to trading on the London Stock Exchange will be made today. The resultingordinary shares will be registered in the name of Altria. Following the conversion, Altria holds 262,588,976 ordinary shares and167,411,024 convertible participating shares in SABMiller, which together giveAltria an aggregate voting interest of 24.99% in SABMiller. A separate formalnotice relating to Altria's notifiable interest will be issued by SABMiller. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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