Offer for Mannesmann Now Wholly Unconditional
Vodafone AirTouch PLC
10 February 2000
VODAFONE AIRTOUCH RECOMMENDED OFFER FOR MANNESMANN
IS NOW WHOLLY UNCONDITIONAL
Vodafone AirTouch Plc announces that its recommended Offer for
Mannesmann AG has now become unconditional in all respects.
By 17.00 New York time (23.00 CET) on 9 February 2000, valid
acceptances of the Offer had been received in respect of a
total of 303,546,104 Mannesmann Shares, representing
approximately 60.3% of the issued share capital of Mannesmann.
Trading in the New Vodafone AirTouch Shares to be issued in
exchange for Mannesmann Shares will commence on the London
Stock Exchange at the opening of trading at 8.00 UK time on 10
February 2000, the London Stock Exchange having agreed to
admit the New Vodafone AirTouch Shares for listing. Trading in
the Mannesmann Tendered Shares on the Official List of the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN 656 034) ceased after the close
of business on 9 February 2000.
Vodafone AirTouch will issue the first tranche of New Vodafone
AirTouch Shares on 11 February 2000 to Mannesmann Shareholders
whose shares had been tendered and booked as such into
Clearstream Banking AG, Frankfurt (formerly Deutsche Borse
Clearing AG) by 17.30 CET on 10 February 2000.
An offer will be made to holders of Mannesmann Convertible
Bonds as soon as reasonably practicable and not later than 14
days after the date of this announcement.
FTSE International will shortly announce the timing for
weighting adjustments in the FTSE indices. This re-weighting
will reflect the announcement to be made by Vodafone AirTouch
on or about 7.00 UK time on 11 February 2000 as to the level
of acceptances booked into Clearstream Banking AG, Frankfurt
by 17.30 CET on 10 February 2000.
Deutsche Borse announced on 9 February 2000 that it intends to
remove Mannesmann completely from the DAX 30 index two
business days after Vodafone AirTouch announces that its Offer
for Mannesmann has become unconditional.
The Offer will remain open until 24.00 CET on 17 February 2000.
Depositary banks / custodians will continue to book Mannesmann
Tendered Shares as tendered shares into Clearstream Banking
AG, Frankfurt until 17.30 CET on 21 February 2000. The second
tranche of New Vodafone AirTouch Shares will be issued on 22
February 2000. These New Vodafone AirTouch Shares are
expected to be booked into the accepting Mannesmann
Shareholder accounts with their respective depositary bank /
custodian by 23 February 2000.
As the practices of depositary banks and custodians vary,
shareholders are encouraged to accept now, and to confirm with
their depositary bank or custodian the timely booking of their
Mannesmann Tendered Shares and the settlement procedures for
receipt of the New Vodafone AirTouch Shares.
Shareholders in any doubt as to the procedures for acceptance
of the Offer or requiring assistance with accepting the Offer,
should call their depositary bank or custodian or
alternatively if shareholders are calling from Germany or the
UK they should telephone the dedicated Offer helpline on toll-
free 0800 088 7766 in Germany or freephone 0800 169 2853 in
the UK.
Bank custodian, broker custodian and institutional investor
enquiries in relation to the acceptance and settlement
procedures for the Offer should be directed to Paribas
Frankfurt Branch (the 'Global Exchange Coordinator') at
telephone +49 (0) 69 1520 5630; fax +49 (0) 69 1520 5636 and
enquiries in relation to the Offer and requests for additional
copies of Offer materials should be directed to D. F. King
(Europe) Limited (the 'European Information Agent') at
telephone +44 (0) 207 920 9700; fax +44 (0) 207 588 7300.
Copies of this press release and the documentation published in
connection with the Offer can be obtained from the Vodafone
AirTouch website, www.vodafone-update.com.
Enquiries:
Vodafone AirTouch
Terry Barwick, Director of Corporate Affairs
Tim Brown, Investor Relations Director
Melissa Stimpson, Senior Investor Relations Manager
Mike Caldwell, Corporate Communications Director
Tel: +44 (0) 1635 33 251
Goldman Sachs International
Scott Mead
Simon Dingemans
Tel: +44 (0) 171 774 1000
Warburg Dillon Read
Warren Finegold
Mark Lewisohn
Tel: +44 (0) 171 567 8000
Tavistock Communications
Lulu Bridges
Tel: +44 (0) 171 600 2288
Words defined in the press release dated 18 January 2000 shall
have the same meaning in this announcement unless the context
requires otherwise.
This press release does not constitute an offer to exchange or
sell or an offer to exchange or buy any securities.
The contents of this announcement have been approved by Goldman
Sachs International and Warburg Dillon Read, the investment
banking division of UBS AG, solely for the purposes of Section
57 of the Financial Services Act 1986. Goldman Sachs
International and Warburg Dillon Read, each of which is
regulated in the United Kingdom by The Securities and Futures
Authority Limited, are acting for Vodafone AirTouch and for no
one else in connection with the Offer and will not be
responsible to anyone other than Vodafone AirTouch for
providing the protections afforded to customers of Goldman
Sachs International or Warburg Dillon Read or for giving
advice in relation to the Offer.
Goldman Sachs International and/or Warburg Dillon Read may have
positions and/or holdings in investments referred to in this
announcement and are providing or may have provided within the
12 months preceding the issue of this document advice to
Vodafone AirTouch and/or Mannesmann and/or in relation to the
securities of either or both companies. Past performance is
not necessarily a guide to future performance. The value of
your investment and income from it can go down as well as up
and is not guaranteed. You may get back less than you have
invested.
The Offer in the United States is being made through a
prospectus which is part of an effective registration
statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. Mannesmann Shareholders who are U.S. persons or
are located in the United States are advised to read the
registration statement because it contains important
information relating to the Offer. You can inspect and copy
the registration statement relating to the Offer and documents
incorporated by reference therein at the public reference
facilities maintained by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission at 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Room 1024, Washington
D.C. 20549. In addition, copies of the US Offer Document are
available from The Bank of New York, 101 Barclay Street, Lobby
Window, New York, NY 10286.
For additional information regarding risks, see the
Registration Statement on Form F-4 and other reports of
Vodafone AirTouch Plc on file with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Copies of these filings are available on request
directed to Vodafone AirTouch, Investor Relations, Tim Brown
(tel: + 44 1635 682 373).
It is the responsibility of any person receiving a copy of this
announcement in any jurisdiction other than the United
Kingdom, Germany and the United States to satisfy themselves
as to the full observance of the laws and regulatory
requirements of the relevant jurisdiction, including the
obtaining of any governmental or other consent which may be
required or observing any other formalities needing to be
observed in such jurisdiction. Receipt of this announcement
will not constitute an offer in those jurisdictions in which
it would be illegal to make such an offer and in such
circumstances it will be deemed to have been sent for
information purposes only.
Statements in this press release relating to future status or
circumstances, including statements regarding future
performance, costs, revenues, cash flows, earnings,
divestments, growth and other trend projections and the
synergistic benefits of the merger are forward-looking
statements. These statements may generally, but not always, be
identified by the use of words such as 'anticipates',
'should', 'expects', 'estimates', 'believes', or similar
expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements
involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and
depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There
can be no assurance that actual results will not differ
materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-
looking statements due to many factors, many of which are
outside Vodafone AirTouch's control, including the triggering
of change of control provisions in Mannesmann's licences or
other agreements, the ability to obtain regulatory approvals
without onerous conditions, the impact of labour disputes, the
risk of negative impacts on Vodafone AirTouch's credit
ratings, the potential costs, including tax costs, of
divesting Orange and Mannesmann's industrial businesses,
limitations on Vodafone AirTouch's ability to control
Mannesmann due to voting restrictions and other provisions of
Mannesmann's charter and German law, general economic
conditions, competition, technical difficulties and the need
for increased capital expenditure (such as that resulting from
increased demand for usage, new business opportunities and
deployment of new technologies) and the ability to realise
benefits from entering into partnerships for developing data
and internet services.