27th Oct 2006 07:00
Aer Lingus Group PLC27 October 2006 Not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into or from Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa or the United States or any other jurisdiction where it would be unlawful to do so FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE STATEMENT BY AER LINGUS GROUP PLC The statement issued by Ryanair Holdings plc at 4.39pm yesterday, Thursday 26thOctober 2006, contains a number of serious inaccuracies and misrepresentations. Specifically, its assertion that its conditional offer for Aer Lingus "equatesto an average of over €60,000 per employee, with a tax free option for ESOTmembers" is incorrect and seriously misleading. The facts are that the Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) has approximately4,665 members. After allowing for the ESOT's borrowings, the offer is worth anaverage of approximately €32,500 per ESOT member. This inaccuracy had been drawnto the attention of Ryanair. This purported tax-free status is highly conditional, dependent on Revenueapproval and, extraordinarily, dependent on Aer Lingus employees and formeremployees going into the public markets and buying shares in Ryanair, a companywhose stock has under-performed other European airlines during 2006. The numerous misrepresentations by Ryanair will be dealt with in full when AerLingus issues its response to Ryanair's conditional offer. Date: 27 October 2006 PRESS ENQUIRIES Aer Lingus Group plc +353 1 886 2000Greg O'Sullivan Goldman Sachs International +44 207 774 1000Basil GeogheganPhil RaperNicholas van den Arend Merrion Capital +353 1 240 4100John ConroyDan Ennis Goodbody Stockbrokers +353 1 667 0400Roy BarrettFinbarr Griffin INVESTOR RELATIONS K Capital Source +353 1 631 5500Mark KennyJonathan Neilan PR ADVISERS TO THE COMPANY Drury Communications +353 1 260 5000Billy MurphyOrla Benson Powerscourt +44 20 7236 5615Rory GodsonVictoria Palmer-Moore The Participating Directors of Aer Lingus accept responsibility for theinformation contained in this announcement. To the best of the knowledge andbelief of the Participating Directors (having taken all reasonable care toensure that such is the case), the information contained in this announcement isin accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to affect itsimport. The "Participating Directors" means all of the directors of Aer Lingusother than Mr Francis Hackett and Mr Michael Johns. Mr Hackett and Mr Johns are not, for the time being, participating in theBoard's consideration of the Offer and related matters because the ParticipatingDirectors have concluded that it would be in the best interests of the Companyand its shareholders as a whole if, for the time being, the Directors appointedby the Minister for Transport and the Aer Lingus Employee Share Ownership Trustrespectively, did not so participate. Aer Lingus is being advised by Goldman Sachs International, Merrion StockbrokersLimited and Goodbody Stockbrokers in relation to the Offer. Goldman Sachs International, which is authorised and regulated in the UnitedKingdom by the Financial Services Authority, is acting exclusively for AerLingus Group plc and no one else in connection with the Offer by RyanairHoldings plc and will not be responsible to anyone other than Aer Lingus Groupplc for providing the protections afforded to customers of Goldman SachsInternational or for providing advice in relation to the Offer by RyanairHoldings plc or the contents of this announcement. Merrion Stockbrokers Limited, which is regulated in Ireland by the FinancialRegulator, is acting exclusively for Aer Lingus Group plc and no one else inconnection with the Offer by Ryanair Holdings plc and will not be responsible toanyone other than Aer Lingus Group plc for providing the protections afforded tocustomers of Merrion Stockbrokers Limited or for providing advice in relation tothe Offer by Ryanair Holdings plc or the contents of this announcement. Goodbody Stockbrokers, which is regulated in Ireland by the Financial Regulator,is acting exclusively for Aer Lingus Group plc and no one else in connectionwith the Offer by Ryanair Holdings plc and will not be responsible to anyoneother than Aer Lingus Group plc for providing the protections afforded tocustomers of Goodbody Stockbrokers or for providing advice in relation to theOffer by Ryanair Holdings plc or the contents of this announcement. Any person who is the holder of 1 per cent. or more of any class of shares inAer Lingus Group plc or Ryanair Holdings plc may be required to make disclosurespursuant to Rule 8.3 of the Irish Takeover Panel Act, 1997, Takeover Rules 2001to 2005, as applied, with amendments by the European Communities (Takeover Bids(Directive 2004/25/EC)) Regulations 2006. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
RYA.L