Distribution of company announcements to the professional platforms, finance portals and syndication of important corporate news to a wide variety of news aggregators and financial news systems.
Schiphol Airport, Netherlands, Oct 6, 2007 - (Hugin via Asia Business News) - This is a press release of Royal Numico N.V. ("Numico") in connection with the recommended public offer by Danone for all outstanding ordinary shares in the share capital of Numico. This announcement and related materials do not constitute an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell shares. Any offer will be made only by means of the Offer Memorandum as defined below. Nowhere outside the Netherlands any actions have been taken (nor will any actions be taken) to make a public offer possible in any jurisdiction in which actions would be required to that effect. Not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy and Japan.
Schiphol, 5 October 2007 - Royal Numico N.V. announces the proposed new composition of Numico's Executive Board in the event that Groupe Danone S.A. ("Danone") declares its public offer for all the ordinary shares in the share capital of Numico unconditional.
In addition to the earlier announced departure of Jan Bennink and Jean-Marc Huët, the following changes to Numico's Executive Board will be made in the event that Danone declares its offer for Numico unconditional.
Chris Britton and Niraj Mehra have decided to resign from the company to pursue other career opportunities in the event the offer by Danone for Numico shares will be declared unconditional. In his role as President of Numico's Baby Food division, Chris Britton played an instrumental and leading role in the successful acceleration of the Baby Food sales growth to double-digit levels. Niraj Mehra - as Executive Board member responsible for Operations - fulfilled a crucial and valuable role in the overall optimisation of the supply chain including the successful closure of a number of plants. Following the envisaged successful completion of Danone's Offer which would result in a change of control, Chris Britton and Niraj Mehra will - upon their intended resignations - be entitled to a compensation of € 2,008,500 and € 2,255,500, respectively.
Danone intends to nominate Christian Neu and François Caquelin as new members of Numico's Executive Board. Christian Neu will take over responsibility for Numico's Baby Food activities and will become CEO of Numico. François Caquelin will be responsible for all Finance related activities within Numico.
Flemming Morgan - President of Numico's Clinical Nutrition division - will resume Board responsibility for Numico's Clinical Nutrition activities and will report to Bernard Hours, Co-Chief Operating Officer responsible for Danone's four operational business lines.
Chris Britton, a British citizen, joined Numico's Executive Board on 1 February 2003, to head the Baby Food division. Prior to joining Numico, Chris Britton was Global Marketing Director for Diageo. Niraj Mehra was appointed to Numico's Executive Board on 16 December 2002 with responsibility for Operations. Before joining Numico, Niraj Mehra was Vice President Operations of Danone's Dairy division.
Christian Neu, a German citizen, joined Danone in 1986 as head of regional sales, then head of sales for Danone Germany. He was named General Manager, Danone Benelux in 1993 and in 2000 became General Manager, Fresh Dairy Products for Northern Europe (including UK, Ireland, the Benelux, Germany, Austria and Scandinavia). In this position, Christian Neu was a key contributor to the growth of Groupe Danone's sales. He has also been in charge of Fresh Dairy Products operations in Italy since early 2007.
Flemming Morgan, a British citizen, is currently a member of Numico's Executive Board, heading the Clinical Nutrition division since August 2006. After holding various management positions at The Coca Cola Company in Europe and Latin America, he joined Danone in 2000 and has served as General Manager, Fresh Dairy Products for Africa, Mideast and Partners for five years.
François Caquelin, a French citizen, joined Danone in 1993 and has been Vice President, Finance, Purchasing and Information Systems for Asia-Pacific since 2005, after serving as Finance Director for the Fresh Dairy Products division for three years.
For more information on the Offer made by Danone, reference is made expressly to the Offer Memorandum which can be obtained through the websites of Numico (www.numico.com) and Danone (www.danone.com). Copies of the Offer Memorandum are available free of charge at the offices of Numico and the Exchange Agent and can be obtained by contacting Numico or the Exchange Agent at the addresses below.
Koninklijke Numico N.V. Exchange Agent: ING Bank N.V. Attn: Investor Relations ING Wholesale Banking Securities Services P.O. Box 75538 Attn: Paying Agency Services 1118 ZN Schiphol Airport Location code BV 06.01 The Netherlands Van Heenvlietlaan 220 1083 CN Amsterdam . The Netherlands
