4th May 2005 13:18
Crest Nicholson PLC04 May 2005 4 May 2005 Crest Nicholson plc ("Crest" or the "Company") Response to announcement by Heron Corporation Crest notes the announcement by Heron Corporation ("Heron") released today. Following Crest's offer last week to meet with Heron in order to assist Heron inimproving its position as regards value and in clarifying other key componentsof its proposal, Crest met with representatives of Heron on Wednesday 27 April2005. Crest offered to work with Heron to demonstrate value in its business inexcess of the range of 345-430 pence per share which Heron indicated in itsannouncement of 16 March 2005. Although the discussions with Heron were cordial, Heron declined to increase itsindicative range. Consequently the Board of Crest decided that there was nobasis on which to enter into substantive negotiations with Heron and noconfidential information has been exchanged. Crest's interim results announcement for the six months to 30 April 2005 isexpected to be made on 23 June 2005. John Matthews, Chairman of Crest, commented: "Throughout this process, we have had our fiduciary duties to shareholdersuppermost in our minds and have acted accordingly. Crest is a company that hasperformed consistently and strongly in recent years. It has a strong landbank ofhigh quality and above average length which positions Crest well for the future. "We remain confident that Crest has excellent prospects and look forward todemonstrating how the continuation of our strategy of adding a strong urbanregeneration business to our traditional housebuilding activities will generatesignificant value for shareholders." Enquiries to: Brunswick Group LLPAndrew Fenwick/ Kate Miller/ Robert GardenerTel: 020 7404 5959 UBS Limited is acting for the Company in connection with the possible offerreferred to in this announcement and no one else and will not be responsible toanyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to itsclients or for providing advice in relation to the possible offer, the contentsof this announcement, or any transaction or arrangement referred to herein. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Limited, which is authorised and regulated by theFinancial Services Authority, is acting as corporate broker to Crest Nicholsonplc in connection with the possible offer referred to in this announcement andfor no-one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than Crest Nicholsonplc for providing the protections afforded to customers of Dresdner KleinwortWasserstein, or for affording advice in relation to the contents of thisannouncement, or any transaction or arrangements referred to herein. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Crest Nicholson