Madrid, 30 April 2009. Earlier today, Ebro Puleva (www.ebropuleva.com), sole shareholder of Azucarera Ebro, and Associated British Foods (ABF) (www.abf.co.uk), sole shareholder of British Sugar (www.britishsugar.co.uk), completed the contract for the sale of Azucarera Ebro. As of today¿s date, Azucarera Ebro will be fully owned by ABF.
The terms of the transaction are as follows:
· ABF purchases the sugar business for 385 million euro, debt free.
· Ebro Puleva receives a further 150 million euro in other compensations, mainly from the restructuring funds established under the CMO sugar reform.
· Ebro Puleva also incorporates land with a variety of planning ratings and an estimated value of 42 million euro in its real estate.
The terms of the transaction will be finalised after the audit of the financial statements of Azucarera Ebro as of April 30 2009, scheduled for July. Nevertheless, no material variations are expected from the economic terms as set out above.
Proforma Net Debt as of March 2009 for Ebro Puleva, after cashing in all the payments and settling the extraordinary dividend approved yesterday by the Shareholders Meeting, would be 710millions euro, 2.6x Ebitda and 0.6x Net Equity.
