Avionews

Avionews: "Autogrill reaches around 96% of Alpha Airports capital stock"

Milan, Italy - And extends the offer period(WAPA) - "Autogrill SpA informs that at 3:00pm (London time) of July 23 2007, first closing date of the public purchase offer on the shares of Alpha Airports Group PLc still on the market, a request for 49,090,771 shares has been reported, equal to around 27.9% of the English company's stock. Such shares, added to the 115,228,451 (equal to 65.5% of Alpha Airports capital stock) owned by Autogrill before the prospectus publication, and the further 4,612,994 (equal to 2.6% of the capital stock) established after the prospectus publication, bring Autogrill shareholding to around 96% of Alpha Airports capital stock (equal to 168,932,216 shares). In addition, the directors of Alpha Airports who undertook the obligation of accepting the offer participated for a total of 939,501 shares while the remaining 302,158 expired. According to what the City Code of Takeovers and Mergers allows, the offer period will last until a new closing date, to be communicated in writing to all Alpha Airports shareholders who have not yet adhered at least 14 calendar days before the term. Throughout the offer acceptance period shareholders will have at their disposal copies of the prospectus and the adhesion form at Bryan Cave legal firm, 33 Cannon Street, London EC4M 5TE. An electronic version of the document is available on the Autogrill and Alpha Airports websites (www.autogrill.com and www.alpha-group.com). As manifested in the prospectus, owning over 75% of the Alpha Airports capital stock with voting rights, Autogrill confirms the intention to proceed with the cancellation of the stock from the UKLA's Official List and the suspension of negotiations at the London Stock Exchange. The date of cancellation will be notified to Alpha Airports shareholders as soon as possible". (Avionews)