Forum Archive Index - April 2001

[JIM <JIM.BR@hotmail.com>]

Guiness Peat takes 20+% of Capral after
      buyback

      April 2, 2001

      The sideways performance of the Australian sharemarket since
      February has capped the final buyback price for shareholders in
      Capral Aluminium. The company announced this morning that it
      would spend $304.3 million buying back around 139 million shares.

      The buyback price formula was calculated as the higher of $2.19
      and $2.19 adjusted for the difference in the All Industrials Index

      from 12 February 2001 and 30 March 2001. The All Industrials fell
      from 5654.5 to 5317.7 over the period.

      The buy-back price consists of $1.50 in share capital and $0.69 as
a
      fully franked dividend component.

      Interestingly, Capral said the Guinness Peat Group Plc had elected

      not to participate in the buy-back. Guiness Peat popped up on the
      share register on 13 February with 14.4 million shares or 7%, and
as
      a result, it will now hold in excess of 20% of the company.

      However, to avoid the provisions of the Corporations Law which
      would ordinarily require a company to make a takeover offer once
it
      reaches 20%, Guiness Peat has undertaken to restrict its voting
      power to 19.99%.

      Capral Chairman Jeremy Davis today stated: “With the buy-back
      successfully completed, Capral will continue to focus on
      consolidating its position as the market leader in aluminium
products
      in Australia and New Zealand. Following the process of disposal of

      surplus assets which is already underway, Capral will be in a
position
      to maintain debt within target levels, fund investment
opportunities
      and consider further capital management initiatives during the
year.”


      Capral had funded the buyback from the sale of its Kurru Kurri
      aluminium smelter to Germany VAW Aluminium AG.

      At 1107 AEST, Capral Aluminium shares were trading 9c higher at
      $2.26.



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