TUI extends CP Ships Offer
08 October 2005 - 6:45AM
PR Newswire (US)
Regulatory approvals obtained in Canada and the U.S. HANOVER,
Germany and GATWICK, UK, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TUI AG
and CP Ships Limited jointly announced today that TUI has extended
its Offer dated August 30, 2005 for 100 per cent of the CP Ships
common shares. The Offer is now open for acceptance until 6:00 p.m.
(Eastern time) on October 18, 2005, unless further extended or
withdrawn. TUI has extended its Offer in order to allow time for,
among other things, the satisfaction of the condition under its
Offer relating to the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals. As
of October 7, 2005, the original expiry date under the Offer,
regulatory approvals have been obtained or waiting periods expired
under the Investment Canada Act and competition legislation in
Canada and the U.S. Regulatory review periods have not expired yet
under competition legislation in the EU and certain other countries
in which the companies carry on business. Except for this
extension, the terms and conditions previously set forth in the
Offer continue to be applicable in all respects. TUI has mailed a
Notice of Extension to all holders of CP Ships shares or of options
or rights to acquire CP Ships shares. TUI anticipates completion of
the Offer in October, 2005. CP Ships shareholders are advised to
read the Notice of Extension, the Offer and Circular, the
Directors' Circular and related documents which have been filed
with the Canadian securities commissions and the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission as they contain important
information. Shareholders may obtain a copy of the material (when
available) at the Canadian SEDAR web site at http://www.sedar.com/
and at the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov/. Information on CP
Ships One of the world's leading container shipping companies, CP
Ships provides international container transportation services in
four key regional markets: TransAtlantic, Australasia, Latin
America and Asia. Within these markets CP Ships operates 38
services in 22 trade lanes. At 30th June 2005, CP Ships' vessel
fleet was 82 ships and its container fleet 441,000 TEU. Volume in
2004 was 2.3 million TEU. CP Ships also owns Montreal Gateway
Terminals, which operates one of the largest marine container
terminal facilities in Canada. CP Ships is listed on the Toronto
and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TEU and also in the
S&P/TSX 60 Index of top Canadian publicly listed companies. For
further information, visit the website at http://www.cpships.com/.
Information on TUI TUI is the European market leader in tourism
and, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Hapag-Lloyd, is a leading
player in the global market for container shipping. The tour
operators of TUI trade in 17 European countries. In 2004, the Group
had around 18 million customers. TUI now includes about 3,290
travel agencies, 120 aircraft, 42 incoming agencies and 285 hotels
with approximately 163,000 beds in 28 countries. TUI provides its
customers with holidays from a single source - from booking in a
travel agency, flights, accommodation in the Group's own hotels and
customer-care provided by the Group's own incoming agencies. This
vertical integration strategy covers the whole value chain in the
source markets (sales markets) and the destinations (holiday areas)
and provides its customers with high standards of quality from
start to finish. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Hapag-Lloyd,
TUI operates one of the world's leading container shipping
companies and also operates a fleet of four cruise liners. The
container shipping operation, with 57 container ships, specialises
in complex, wide-ranging logistics services. The container ships
primarily supply the main routes between Europe and Asia, Europe
and North America and North America and Asia. Hapag-Lloyd's
container shipping operation transported 2.4 million TEU worldwide
in the 2004 financial year. The cruise ship division is the leading
"premium and luxury cruise" tour operator in German-speaking
countries. The cruise liners including the 5-star-plus "MS Europa"
are at home on all the world's oceans. For further information,
visit the websites at http://www.tui.com/www.hapag-lloyd.com.
Forward looking information This press release contains certain
forward-looking information and statements within the meaning of
applicable securities laws relating, but not limited, to
operations, anticipated or prospective financial performance,
results of operations, business prospects and strategies of TUI and
CP Ships. Forward-looking information typically contains statements
with words such as "consider", "anticipate", "believe", "expect",
"plan", "intend", "likely" or similar words suggesting future
outcomes or statements regarding an outlook on future changes in
volumes, freight rates, costs, achievable cost savings, the
estimated amounts and timing of capital expenditures, anticipated
future debt levels and incentive fees or revenue, or other
expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions
or statements about future events or performance. These statements
are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those suggested by the forward-looking statements. Although each of
TUI and CP Ships believes it has a reasonable basis for making the
forecasts or projections included herein, you are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. By its
nature, the forward-looking information involves numerous
assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and
specific that contributes to the possibility that the predictions,
forecasts and other forward-looking statements will not occur.
These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in business
strategies; general global, political and economic and business
conditions, including the length and severity of any economic
slowdown in the countries and regions where the companies operate,
including seasonality, particularly in the United States, Canada,
Latin America, Australasia, Asia and Europe; the effects of
competition and pricing pressures; changes in freight rates;
changes in operational costs; industry over-capacity; changes in
demand for container shipping; congestion; availability and cost of
chartered ships; changes in laws and regulations, including tax,
environmental, employment, competition, anti-terrorism and trade
laws; difficulties in achieving cost savings; currency exposures
and exchange rate fluctuations, fuel price and interest rate
fluctuations; changes in access to capital markets and other
sources of financing; various events which could disrupt
operations, including war, acts of terrorism, severe weather
conditions and external labour unrest, all of which may be beyond
TUI or CP Ship's insurance coverage's; compliance with security
measures by governmental and industry trade practice groups, the
outcome of civil litigation related to CP Ship's restatement of
financial results and the impact of any resulting legal judgments,
settlements and expenses, and the companies' anticipation of and
success in managing the risks associated with the foregoing. The
above list of important factors affecting forward-looking
information is not exhaustive, and reference should be had to the
other risks discussed in filings with securities regulators. TUI
and CP Ships undertake no obligation, except as required by law, to
update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking
information, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise, or the above list of factors affecting this
information. DATASOURCE: CP Ships CONTACT: Media Contacts: Stefanie
Rother, TUI AG, t: +49 511 566 1432, ; Klaus Heims, Hapag-Lloyd AG,
t: +49 40 3001 2263, ; Ian Blair, Hill & Knowlton
(TUI/Hapag-Lloyd), t: (416) 413-4694, m: (416) 522-0717, ;
Elizabeth Canna, CP Ships, t: +44 (0)1293 861 921, m: +41 (0)79 691
3764, ; Investor Relations Contacts: Bjorn Beroleit, TUI AG, t: +49
511 566 1310, ; Jeremy Lee, CP Ships, t: (514) 934-5254, m: (514)
502-3112,
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