11th Oct 2007 10:30
Cookson Group PLC11 October 2007 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTOAUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN OR THE UNITED STATES Cookson Group plc announces result of equity placing Cookson Group plc ("Cookson" or the "Company") is pleased to announce thesuccessful completion of the placing announced (the "Announcement") earliertoday (the "Placing"). A total of 18,583,519 new ordinary shares of 10 pence each in Cookson (the"Placing Shares") have been placed by JPMorgan Cazenove Limited and MerrillLynch International at a price of 825 pence per Placing Share, raising grossproceeds of approximately £153 million. The Placing Shares being issuedrepresent approximately 9.6 per cent. of Cookson's issued ordinary share capitalprior to the Placing. Such new shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares ofCookson Group plc except that the interim dividend of 4.25p per Ordinary Sharepayable on 15 October 2007 to ordinary shareholders on the Company's shareregister as at 28 September 2007 will not be paid on such new shares. Application will be made to the Financial Services Authority for admission ofthe Placing Shares to the Official List maintained by the UK Listing Authorityand to the London Stock Exchange (the "LSE") for admission to trading of thePlacing Shares on the LSE's main market for listed securities (together,"Admission"). It is expected that Admission will take place on or before 17October 2007 and that dealings in the Placing Shares on the LSE's main marketfor listed securities will commence at the same time. For further information: Cookson: Nick Salmon +44 (0) 20 7822 0000Mike Butterworth +44 (0) 20 7822 0000Anna Hartropp +44 (0) 20 7822 0000 JPMorgan Cazenove:Patrick Magee +44 (0) 20 7155 4525Jonathan Wilcox +44 (0) 20 7155 8608 Merrill Lynch International:Oli Greaves +44 (0) 20 7996 1200Aukse Jurkute +44 (0) 20 7995 3700 Hogarth:John Olsen +44 (0) 20 7357 9477Julian Walker +44 (0) 20 7357 9477 Note to editors: Defined terms in this announcement have, unless the context otherwise requires,the same meaning given to them in the Announcement. Disclaimer This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or issue, or thesolicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for, Placing Shares in anyjurisdiction including, without limitation, the United Kingdom, the UnitedStates, Australia, Canada or Japan. This announcement and the informationcontained herein is not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly,to persons in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan or in any jurisdictionin which such publication or distribution is unlawful. The Placing Shares referred to in this announcement have not been and will notbe registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "SecuritiesAct") or with any securities regulatory authority of any State or otherjurisdiction of the United States, and may not be offered, sold or transferredwithin the United States except pursuant to an exemption from, or in atransaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The distribution of this announcement and the Placing and/or issue of thePlacing Shares in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. No action hasbeen taken by the Company, the Managers, or any of their respective Affiliates,that would permit an offer of the Placing Shares or possession or distributionof this announcement or any other offering or publicity material relating tosuch Placing Shares in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose isrequired. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required bythe Company and the Managers to inform themselves about and to observe any suchrestrictions. Certain statements made in this announcement are forward looking statements.Such forward looking statements are based on current expectations and numerousassumptions regarding the Company's present and future business strategies andthe environments in which the Company will operate in the future. Suchassumptions may or may not prove to be correct and actual results andperformance could differ materially from any expected further results orperformances, express or implied, by the forward looking statements. Factorsthat might cause forward looking statements to differ materially from actualresults include, among other things, changes in global, political, economic,business, competitive, market and regulatory forces, future exchange andinterest rates and future business combinations or disposals. The Companyexpressly disclaims and assumes no responsibility to update or revise any of theforward looking statements contained in this announcement to reflect any changein the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events,conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Any indication in this announcement of the price at which ordinary shares in theCompany have been bought or sold in the past cannot be relied upon as a guide tofuture performance. No statement in this announcement is intended to be a profitforecast and no statement in this announcement should be interpreted to meanthat earnings per share of the Company for the current or future financial yearswould necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per share ofthe Company. The Managers are acting exclusively for Cookson in connection with the Placingand no-one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than Cookson forproviding the protections afforded to their clients or for providing advice inrelation to the Placing or any matter referred to in this announcement. This announcement is the sole responsibility of the Company. No representationor warranty, express or implied, is or will be made as to, or in relation to,and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by the Managers or byany of their respective Affiliates or agents as to or in relation to, theaccuracy or completeness of this announcement, or any other written or oralinformation made available to or publicly available to any invested party or itsadvisers, and any liability therefore is hereby expressly disclaimed. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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