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MEDIA RELEASE
3 August 2004
TEMASEK HOLDINGS MAKES MANDATORY CONDITIONAL CASH OFFER FOR NOL
Singapore, Tuesday 3 August 2004 – Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd (“Temasek”), through
its wholly-owned subsidiary Lentor Investments Pte Ltd (“Lentor”), has today made
a mandatory conditional cash offer at S$2.80 per share, for shares in Neptune
Orient Lines Ltd (“NOL”) that Temasek currently does not already own.
Following the equity private placement by NOL in Nov 03, Temasek’s
shareholding was diluted to below 30%. A shareholder since 1974, Temasek has
increased its shareholding in NOL to 30.14% through Lentor, thereby requiring
a mandatory offer to be made under the provisions of the Singapore Takeover
Code. “We were interested to
increase our shareholding above 30%. Our mandatory conditional offer is an all
cash, firm offer, conditional upon us receiving acceptances so as to cross 50%
as at the close of the offer”, said Mrs Margaret Lui, Managing Director of Strategic
Development, Temasek.
Following the 27 Jul 04
announcement by NOL of an interim dividend of S$0.0875 per share gross payable
on 30 Aug 04, the NOL shares will trade ex-dividend from Tue 10 Aug 04. The
offer price of S$2.80 represents a premium of 7.2% over the theoretical ex-dividend
last transacted price of S$2.61 today, or a premium of 19.5% over S$2.34, the
volume weighted average of the theoretical ex-dividend last transacted prices
of the shares over the last one month up to the date of this media statement.
Lentor will issue a formal
offer document setting out the terms and conditions of the offer and offering
acceptance forms between 14 and 21 days hereafter.
About Lentor Investments
Pte Ltd
Lentor is an investment
holding company incorporated in the Republic of Singapore on 28 May 2004. Lentor
is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek.
About Temasek Holdings
(Pte) Ltd
Temasek is an Asia investment
company headquartered in Singapore. As an active shareholder and investor, it
aims to maximise long-term shareholder value. Established in 1974, Temasek manages
a diversified global portfolio, including investments in Singapore, India, Indonesia,
Korea, Malaysia and the US. It has investments in a wide range of industries:
transport and logistics, banking and financial services, telecoms and media,
energy and resources, infrastructure and engineering, as well as pharma and
biosciences. Some of the companies in Temasek's portfolio include Singapore
Airlines, DBS, Bank Danamon, Singapore Telecoms, Singapore Power, Keppel, ST
Engineering and Quintiles. For more information, please visit http://www.temasekholdings.com.sg.
About NOL
NOL is a Singapore-based
global transportation and logistics company. It was incorporated in the Republic
of Singapore on 30 December 1968 and was publicly listed in 1981 on the Singapore
Stock Exchange. Its container transportation arm, APL, is a top-10 container
transportation company that provides services to more than 140 countries through
a network combining high quality inter-modal operations with state-of-the-art
information technology. Its supply chain services arm, APL Logistics, provides
international, end-to-end logistics services for global customers, employing
the latest IT and data connectivity for maximum supply chain visibility and
control.
Responsibility Statement
The Directors of Lentor
and Temasek (including any who may have delegated detailed supervision of this
media release) have taken all reasonable care to ensure that the facts stated
and all opinions expressed in this media release are fair and accurate and that
no material facts have been omitted from this media release, and they jointly
and severally accept responsibility accordingly. Where any information has been
extracted from published or publicly available sources (including, without limitation,
in relation to NOL and its subsidiaries and associated companies), the sole
responsibility of the Directors of Lentor and Temasek has been to ensure through
reasonable enquiries that such information is accurately extracted from such
sources or, as the case may be, reflected or reproduced in this media release.
This media release should
be read in conjunction with the full text of the offer announcement dated 3
August 2004 which is available on the website of SGX-ST at www.sgx.com.
For media enquiries, please
contact:
Eva Ho (Ms) Rachel Lin
Please click here to read the offer
document.
Director, Corporate Communications
Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd
DID: (65) 6828-6763
Mobile: (65) 96176-234
Email: evaho@temasek.com.sg
Associate Director, Corporate Communications
Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd
Tel: (65) 6828 6766
Mobile: (65) 96661855
Email: rachellin@temasek.com.sg