Lewis remaining stake results
GUS PLC
19 May 2005
Not for release, publication or distribution in, or into the United States,
Canada, Australia or Japan
19 May 2005
GUS plc
Result of placing of remaining stake in Lewis Group
Further to the announcement on 17 May 2005, GUS plc announces the successful
sale of its entire remaining interest in Lewis Group Limited ('Lewis') of
50,000,001 shares, comprising 50% of the issued share capital. This was achieved
by way of an accelerated book-building process between 17 May 2005 and 19 May
2005.
The sale was concluded at a price of R33.50 per share, a discount of 5.6% to the
closing share price of Lewis on the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa on 17
May 2005, being the last price prior to the announcement of the offer.
Enquiries
GUS
David Tyler Finance Director 020 7495 0070
Fay Dodds Director of Investor Relations
Finsbury
Rupert Younger 020 7251 3801
Rollo Head
Important notes
This announcement has been issued by GUS plc and is the sole responsibility of
GUS. UBS South Africa (Proprietary) Limited ('UBS'), Investec Bank Limited
('Investec') and JP Morgan Securities Limited ('JP Morgan') are acting
exclusively for GUS and no one else in connection with the Offering and will not
be responsible to anyone other than GUS for providing the protections afforded
to clients of UBS, Investec and JP Morgan nor for providing any advice in
relation to the Offering or any other matters referred to in this announcement.
This announcement is for information purposes and does not constitute an offer
of, or an invitation by or on behalf of GUS plc, Lewis, UBS, Investec or JP
Morgan to subscribe for or purchase any shares and may not be used for the
purpose of an offer to, or a solicitation by, anyone in any jurisdiction or in
any circumstances in which such offer or solicitation is not authorised or is
unlawful. This announcement and the Offering do not constitute an offer in or
from the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan or any other jurisdiction where
the dissemination of this announcement or the making of the offer may be illegal
or fails to conform to the laws of such jurisdiction.
The announcement is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United
Kingdom or (ii) investment professionals falling within Article 19(1) of the
United Kingdom Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion)
Order 2001 (the 'Order') or (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to
whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(1) of the Order
(all such persons together being referred to as 'relevant persons'). The offer
shares have not been offered or sold nor will they be offered or sold in
circumstances which have resulted or will result in an offer to the public in
the United Kingdom within the meaning of the United Kingdom Public Offers of
Securities Regulations 1995 and are only available to, and any invitation, offer
or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire any offer shares will
be engaged in only with, relevant persons and where all applicable provisions of
the United Kingdom Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ('FSMA') have been
complied with. Any person in the United Kingdom who is not a relevant person
should not act or rely on this announcement or any of its contents. In addition
no person may communicate or cause to be communicated any invitation or
inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of section 21 of
FSMA) received by it in connection with the issue or sale of any offer shares
except in circumstances in which section 21(1) of FSMA does not apply.
The offer shares have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United
States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the 'Securities Act'), or any
securities laws of any state of the United States, and such shares are not and
may not be offered or sold within the United States.
The offer shares may not, directly or indirectly, be offered, sold, transferred
to or delivered in the Netherlands, whether at their initial distribution or at
any time thereafter, and neither this announcement nor any other document in
respect of the Offering may be distributed or circulated in the Netherlands,
other than to individuals or legal entities who or which trade or invest in
securities in the conduct of their profession or trade (which includes banks,
investment institutions, securities intermediaries, insurance companies, pension
funds, other institutional investors and treasury departments and finance
companies of large enterprises).
This announcement does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of Article
652a of the Swiss Code of Obligations of March 30, 1911. Accordingly, the offer
shares may not be offered or distributed in or from Switzerland on the basis of
a 'public solicitation' and neither this announcement nor any offering material
relating to the offer shares may be distributed in connection with any offer or
distribution which may constitute such a solicitation.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange