28th Apr 2008 13:53
British American Tobacco PLC28 April 2008 British American Tobacco p.l.c. 28 April 2008 British American Tobacco p.l.c. received the following notification on 28 April2008:- QUOTE TR-1: Notification of Major Interests in Shares 1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares towhich voting rights are attached: British American Tobacco p.l.c. 2. Reason for the notification (please state Yes/No) An acquisition or disposal of voting rights (No) An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in theacquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached (No) An event changing the breakdown of voting rights (No) Other (please specify): (Yes) The issuer has bought back its own shares in themarket for cancellation. As a consequence of this reduction in share capital,the notifier's percentage interest in the issuer has increased and reached thethreshold. 3. Full name of person(s) subject to the notification obligation: Compagnie Financiere Richemont S.A. 4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3): Compagnie Financiere Richemont S.A. (indirect) Richemont S.A. (indirect) R&R Holdings S.A. (direct) 5. Date of the transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed orreached if different): 25 April 2008 6. Date on which issuer notified: 28 April 2008 7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: 30 per cent 8. Notified details: A. Voting rights attached to sharesClass/type of Situation Resultingshares previous to the situation after Triggering the triggering transaction transaction Number of Number of Number of Number of % of voting Shares Voting Rights shares voting rights rights Direct Indirect Direct IndirectOrdinary shares 604,336,627 604,336,627 604,336,627 604,336,627 30.0%of 25 penceeach ISIN: GB0002875804 B. Financial Instruments Resulting situation after the triggering transaction Type of financial Expiration date Exercise/Conversion Number of voting rights % of voting rightsinstrument Period/Date that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/convertedN/A Total (A+B) Number of voting rights % of voting rights 604,336,627 30.0 per cent. 9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/orthe financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable: R&R Holdings S.A. is a direct shareholder of the issuer (holding 604,336,627ordinary shares of 25 pence each). Richemont S.A. is the parent undertaking ofR&R Holdings S.A. for the purposes of the DTRs. Compagnie Financiere RichemontS.A. is Richemont S.A.'s own parent undertaking for those purposes. Proxy voting 10. Name of the proxy holder: N/A 11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold: N/A 12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights: N/A 13. Additional information: The total number of voting rights in the issuer used to calculate the relevantpercentages in this notification was 2,014,396,166, being the number disclosedby the issuer to the market on 25 April 2008. 14. Contact name: Alan Grieve / Matthew Kilgarriff 15. Contact telephone number: +41 22 721 3506 / +41 22 721 3504 UNQUOTE Note: In 2007, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers (the "Panel") granted awaiver of the requirement for R&R Holdings S.A. ("R&R") under the City Code tomake a general offer for the remainder of the entire issued share capital ofBritish American Tobacco p.l.c. (the "Company") in the event of R&R reaching orexceeding 30 per cent of the Company's issued share capital (the "Waiver"). TheWaiver was approved by the Company's shareholders (excluding R&R) at theCompany's AGM in April 2007 at which time it was noted that the Directors of theCompany expected to continue to seek annual approval of a waiver from itsshareholders (excluding R&R) to a level not exceeding 35 per cent of theCompany's issued ordinary share capital. Details of the 2008 waiver from the Panel and the required shareholder approvalare set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting (30 April 2008) and Circularto Shareholders published by the Company on 1 April 2008. Geoffrey Cunnington Deputy Secretary British American Tobacco p.l.c. Tel: 020 7845 1925 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
British American Tobacco