MEDIA RELEASE

4 Aug 2004

MANDATORY CONDITIONAL CASH OFFER

By

Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte.

for and on behalf of

Lentor Investments Pte. Ltd.
(Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore)

a wholly-owned subsidiary of

Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore)

for

Neptune Orient Lines Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore)

1. Introduction

Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte. (“Goldman Sachs”) refers to the announcement made on 3 August 2004 for and on behalf of Lentor Investments Pte. Ltd. (the “Offeror”), that the Offeror intends to make a mandatory conditional cash offer (the “Offer”) for all the ordinary shares of S$1.00 each (“Shares”) in the capital of Neptune Orient Lines Limited (“NOL”) in issue and to be issued pursuant to the NOL Share Option Scheme.

The offer price for each Share is S$2.80 (the “Offer Price”). In addition, NOL shareholders accepting the Offer will be entitled to retain the interim dividend of S$0.0875 per Share gross (S$0.07 per Share net) payable on 30 August 2004 (the “Interim Dividend”), which was announced by NOL on 27 July 2004.

2. Market Purchases

The Offeror may from time to time during the offer period purchase Shares through the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”). In accordance with the provisions of The Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers, in order not to cause a revision to the Offer Price, such purchases will be made at prices not exceeding the Offer Price. However, as the Shares are currently trading on SGX-ST on a cum-Interim Dividend basis until and including 6 August 2004, the Offeror has obtained a ruling from the Securities Industry Council to purchase Shares up to the following maximum prices based on the Offer Price of S$2.80 per Share:

(i) during the period when the Shares are trading cum-Interim Dividend on SGX-ST (being the period until and including 6 August 2004), S$2.88 per Share; and

(ii) during the period when the Shares are trading ex-Interim Dividend on SGX-ST (being the period commencing on and including 10 August 2004), S$2.80 per Share.

As NOL shareholders accepting the Offer will receive the Offer Price of S$2.80 per Share and will be entitled to retain the Interim Divided of S$0.0875 per Share, the above prices reflect the actual value of the Offer so that all NOL shareholders will be treated equally. For the avoidance of doubt, the Offeror wishes to clarify that purchases of Shares up the maximum prices stated in sub-paragraphs (i) and (ii) above will not result in a revision to the Offer Price.

3. Responsibility Statement

The Directors of the Offeror and Temasek (including any who may have delegated detailed supervision of this Announcement) have taken all reasonable care to ensure that the facts stated and all opinions expressed in this Announcement are fair and accurate and that no material facts have been omitted from this Announcement, 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 the Offeror 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 Announcement.

Issued by
Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte.

For and on behalf of
Lentor Investments Pte. Ltd.
4 August 2004
Singapore

Any inquiries relating to this Announcement or the Offer should be directed to the following individuals:

Eva Ho
Director of Corporate Communications
Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited
Telephone: 6828 6828 / 6828 6763
Fax: 6828 6263

Tim Leissner
Managing Director
Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte.
Telephone: 6889 2682
Fax: 6889 2308