Offer Document Posted

GPG (UK) Holdings PLC 19 April 2004 Not for release, publication or distribution in whole or in part in or into the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan GPG (UK) Holdings plc 19 April 2004 GPG (UK) Holdings plc ('GPG') announces that the Offer Document in relation to its Partial Offer to acquire 28.5 million shares of De Vere Group Plc, which was announced on 23 March 2004, was posted to De Vere Group Plc shareholders today. A summary of the Partial Offer and reasons for it, as set out in the Offer Document, is as follows: - Cash offer for 28.5 million De Vere Shares at 415p per share, representing a premium of 1.7 per cent. to the closing middle market price of 408p per De Vere Share on 22 March 2004, the business day immediately prior to the date of the announcement of the Partial Offer - GPG, as the 35 per cent. cornerstone shareholder, would initiate a much more dynamic strategy to release the substantial value which it believes is locked within the current structure - GPG intends that this value be unlocked principally by way of a sale of the De Vere Hotels Division, which it believes is unlikely in the foreseeable future to be fully valued as part of a publicly quoted company - an issue which the De Vere Board conspicuously failed to address in its Response Announcement - As at 22 March 2004, the business day immediately preceding the announcement of the Partial Offer, the market's valuation of the De Vere Hotels Division, as implied by De Vere's overall EV/EBITDA ratio, was approximately £159 million, or some 140 pence per share, below the De Vere Board's valuation of its net assets - Prior to the announcement of the Partial Offer, De Vere had in fact underperformed the FTSE Leisure and Hotels sector - The De Vere Board has had ample opportunity to address GPG's concerns - GPG proposes to invest the time and management resources to unlock value for all De Vere shareholders - In order for the Partial Offer to be successful: •De Vere shareholders holding over 50 per cent. of the voting rights of De Vere not held by the GPG Group must approve the Partial Offer; AND • acceptances must be received in respect of at least 28.5 million De Vere Shares We commend the Partial Offer to De Vere shareholders, and strongly urge them to register their support of the making of the Partial Offer, whether or not they intend to accept it in respect of their own holdings of De Vere Shares. For further enquiries: GPG (UK) Holdings plc Blake Nixon, Chairman 020 7484 3370 Weber Shandwick Square Mile Kevin Smith / Josh Royston 020 7067 0700 Terms used in this announcement have the meanings given in the Offer Document. Strand Partners Limited has approved the contents of this financial promotion and its communication by GPG for the purposes of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Strand Partners Limited, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority, is acting for GPG and no-one else in connection with the Partial Offer and will not be responsible to anyone other than GPG for providing the protection afforded to clients of Strand Partners Limited nor for giving advice in relation to the Partial Offer. The directors of GPG accept responsibility for the information contained in this announcement. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the directors of GPG (who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the case), the information contained in this announcement is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information. The Partial Offer is not being made, directly or indirectly, in or into, or by the use of the mails or any means or instrumentality (including, without limitation, telephonically or electronically) of interstate or foreign commerce of, or any facilities of a national securities exchange of the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. Accordingly, except as required by applicable law, copies of this announcement and the Offer Document are not being, and must not be, mailed or otherwise forwarded, distributed or sent in, into or from the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. Persons receiving this announcement (including, without limitation, nominees, trustees or custodians) must not forward, distribute or send it in, into or from the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. De Vere shareholders should note that the entitlement to participate in the Partial Offer depends on being entered on the register of members of De Vere at the Record Date, which could be any date between now and 9 May 2004 or, if the Partial Offer were to be extended beyond 10 May 2004, any date up to 17 June 2004 (or such later date as may be agreed with the Panel) depending on the number of acceptances received and the speed at which they are received. Notwithstanding this, if you sell or purchase De Vere Shares prior to the Record Date please refer to the instructions relating to Qualifying Purchases set out in the Offer Document as the purchaser may have an entitlement to participate in the Partial Offer. Sources and bases: The £159 million figure given for the difference between the implied market valuation of the De Vere Hotels Division and the De Vere Board's valuation of its net assets is calculated by deducting the figure of £418.5 million for implied market valuation as at 22 March 2004 from the figure of £577.1 million for its net asset value. The implied market valuation of the De Vere Hotels Division of £418.5 million as at 22 March 2004 is calculated by multiplying its EBITDA of £47.5 million by the De Vere EV/EBITDA multiple of 8.81. The EBITDA figure for the De Vere Hotels Division of £47.5 million is sourced from De Vere's annual report and accounts for the year ended 28 September 2003. De Vere's EV/EBITDA multiple of 8.81 is calculated by dividing the EV of De Vere by its EBITDA. A figure of £688.94 million has been used for De Vere's EV and represents the sum of De Vere's market capitalisation of £466.44 million as at 22 March 2004 and its net borrowings of £222.5 million as at 28 September 2003. De Vere's EBITDA for the year ended 28 September 2003 was £78.2 million. The net asset value figure for the De Vere Hotels Division of £577.1 million is the sum of £550.9 million, the net asset value figure for the division sourced from De Vere's annual report and accounts for the year ended 28 September 2003, and £26.2 million, the last disclosed figure for the De Vere Group headquarters liabilities which were last reported separately in De Vere's annual report and accounts for the 53 weeks ended 1 October 2000 and have since been included within the De Vere Hotels business segment. The figure of approximately 140 pence per share for the difference between the implied market valuation as at 22 March 2004 and the net asset value is calculated by dividing £159 million by the figure of 114,383,838 being the number of De Vere Shares in issue. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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