Stmt re Possible Offer-Rplcmt

Persimmon PLC 19 January 2001 The issuer has advised that the following amendment should be made to the 'Statement re Possible Offer' announcement released today at 16:32 under RNS No 5492X. The wording relating to the third paragraph in the original announcement read 'The pre-condition to the making of an offer is that the merger offer by Bryant for Beazer announced on 14th December 2000 is not approved by Bryant shareholders, or does not otherwise lapse.' This wording is incorrect. The correct wording as shown below is 'The pre-condition to the making of an offer is that the merger offer by Bryant for Beazer announced on 14th December 2000 is not approved by Bryant shareholders, or that it otherwise lapses.' The full text below remains otherwise unaltered. (Not for release, publication or distribution in or into the United States of America, Canada, Australia or Japan) Persimmon plc ('Persimmon') Possible offer for Beazer Group Plc ('Beazer') The Board of Persimmon announces that it has submitted a proposal to the Board of Beazer indicating that it is considering making an offer to Beazer shareholders of 92.5p in cash and 0.349 new Persimmon ordinary shares for each Beazer share. A mix and match election would also be made available. On the basis of the closing price of Persimmon ordinary shares on 18th January, 2001 the offer, if made, would value each Beazer share at 184.8p and the current issued share capital of Beazer at approximately £528 million of which £264 million would be satisfied in cash. This would represent a premium of 13.0 per cent to the closing value of Beazer shares on 10th January, 2001, the day prior to the announcement by Taylor Woodrow plc ('Taylor Woodrow') that it had approached the Board of Bryant Group plc ('Bryant') and a premium of 40.6 per cent to the closing value of Beazer Shares on 13th December, 2000, the day prior to the announcement of Beazer's merger with Bryant. The pre-condition to the making of an offer is that the merger offer by Bryant for Beazer announced on 14th December 2000 is not approved by Bryant shareholders, or that it otherwise lapses. This pre-condition can be waived at the discretion of Persimmon. Duncan Davidson, Chairman of Persimmon said: 'The offer that has been proposed would provide Beazer's shareholders with a significant premium to the value of the Bryant offer before Taylor Woodrow declared that it had approached the Board of Bryant. It would also contain an initial cash element of almost 6 times that offered by Bryant and provide the opportunity to be part of what would be the UK's leading housebuilder and benefit from Persimmon's proven record for integrating acquisitions and delivering value to shareholders.' The Board of Persimmon believes that the combination of the two companies has a compelling strategic and geographical fit and will create the leading force in UK housebuilding. Key Strategic and Financial Benefits - On a pro forma basis for the twelve months to 30th June 2000, the enlarged Persimmon group would have turnover of approximately £1.6 billion and operating profit of £209 million. - The geographic spread of the enlarged Persimmon group would be well balanced. Persimmon would gain entry into the new regional markets of the West Midlands, Essex and Cumbria complementing Persimmon's geographic strengths in Scotland, the North and Yorkshire, the Midlands, the South East, the South West and in South Wales. - Persimmon expects to be able to achieve pre-tax synergies of at least £20 million per annum by the end of 2001. These significant synergies would arise from office rationalisations and other identified cost-savings. The one-off costs of achieving these synergy benefits are estimated to be in the region of £12 million. - In addition to these synergies, benefits would arise from maximising sales revenue and the enhanced purchasing power of the enlarged Persimmon group. - Persimmon intends to expand the Charles Church brand to 1,000 units a year by 2002. - Including the Charles Church business, Persimmon intends to rationalise the Beazer portfolio to create an enlarged group with between 13,000 to 14,000 units a year distributed between Persimmon's North and South divisions. - The enlarged Persimmon group would control the largest land bank in the UK housebuilding industry, with approximately 58,000 plots and a strategic land portfolio of over 19,000 acres. In the first year following the completion of the transaction Persimmon would manage the landbank appropriately, to release cash of £175 million in order to reduce the debt of the enlarged group. - The transaction would be significantly earnings enhancing in the first year before synergy benefits.* - The enlarged Persimmon group would continue Persimmon's strategy of focusing on improving margins and return on capital employed. There can be no certainty that an offer will be made even if the pre-condition is met. Persimmon will make a further announcement no later than Wednesday, 24th January, 2001. Enquiries: John White (Chief Persimmon plc 01904 642199 Executive) Edward Orlebar Finsbury 020 7251 3801 Faeth Finnemore ABN AMRO Corporate Finance Limited, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by The Securities and Futures Authority Limited, is acting for Persimmon and no-one else in connection with the matters described herein and will not be responsible to anyone other than Persimmon for providing the protections afforded to customers of ABN AMRO Corporate Finance Limited nor for giving advice in relation thereto. ABN AMRO Corporate Finance Limited has authorised the issue of this announcement solely for the purposes of section 57 of the Financial Services Act 1986. This announcement does not constitute an offer or an invitation to purchase any securities. *Any statements made regarding earnings enhancement should not be interpreted to mean that the earnings per share for any period following any offer will necessarily be greater than those for the relevant preceding financial period.

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