Rights Issue to Raise Net Proceeds

Source from:  worldtobacco.co.uk 29 May 2008 09/23/2008

The Board of Imperial Tobacco has announced a fully underwritten Rights Issue to raise £4.9bn (net of expenses) to repay part of the debt facilities put in place to fund the cash consideration paid for the acquisition of Altadis. The Rights Issue will result in the issue of 338,741,960 new shares (representing 33.3% of the enlarged issued share capital of Imperial Tobacco, not including shares held in treasury by the company) at a price of 1,475 pence per share, on the basis of one new share for every two existing shares held on May 15 2008. Following the Rights Issue, Imperial Tobacco Group expects to maintain its investment grade credit rating and to maintain its dividend policy, increasing dividends broadly in line with underlying earnings growth, with around a 50% payout ratio. Enditem