Singapore

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)
Director, Corporate Communications
Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd
DID: (65) 6828-6763
Mobile: (65) 96176-234
Email: evaho@temasek.com.sg

Rachel Lin
Associate Director, Corporate Communications
Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd
Tel: (65) 6828 6766
Mobile: (65) 96661855
Email: rachellin@temasek.com.sgrachellin@temasek.com.sg