Esprit Holdings Limited — M&A Activity 2000

Apr 7, 2000

Listed Company Information

GRANDE HOLDINGS<0186> - Announcement The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited takes no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, makes no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaims any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement. THE GRANDE HOLDINGS LIMITED (incorporated in the Cayman Islands with limited liability and redomiciled and continuing into and existing under the laws of Bermuda) SEPARATE LISTING OF LAFE TECHNOLOGY LIMITED ON THE SINGAPORE EXCHANGE Financial adviser to The Grande Holdings Limited PACIFIC CHALLENGE Pacific Challenge Capital Limited Further to the announcements of the Company dated 24th February, 2000 and 9th March, 2000 in relation to the separate listing of LTL, the Company is pleased to announce that the Share Offer in respect of 250,000,000 ordinary shares of US$0.04 each of LTL has opened in Singapore on 28th March, 2000. At the close of the Share Offer at 12 p.m. on 5th April, 2000, a total of 315,977,000 LTL Shares have been validly applied for under the public offer, equivalent to approximately 6.3 times of the total number of 50,000,000 LTL Shares available under the public offer. Of the 200,000,000 LTL Shares available under the placing, 199,945,000 LTL Shares have been successfully subscribed for, the balance of 55,000 LTL Shares resulting from invalid applications were transferred to satisfy demand under the public offer. Immediately upon completion of the Share Offer, the Company and its subsidiaries will hold approximately 62 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital of LTL. This announcement is made further to the announcements of The Grande Holdings Limited (the "Company") dated 24th February, 2000 and 9th March, 2000 and the circular of the Company dated 11th March, 2000. Unless otherwise defined, terms used in this announcement shall have the same meanings as defined in the announcement of the Company dated 24th February, 2000. It was announced in the announcement of the Company dated 24th February, 2000 that, Lafe Technology Limited ("LTL"), previously a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, intended to seek admission for its securities to list on the Singapore Exchange. On 9th March, 2000, the Company announced that the Singapore Exchange had granted in-principle approval of the LTL Listing on 8th March, 2000. LTL and its subsidiaries are principally engaged in the design and manufacturing of computer magnetic heads for use in hard disk drives and tape drives for some of the world's leading disk drive and tape drive makers. The directors of the Company are pleased to announce that on 28th March, 2000, invitation in respect of 250,000,000 ordinary shares of US$0.04 ("LTL Shares") each of LTL has opened in Singapore ("Share Offer"). Under the Share Offer, 250,000,000 LTL Shares, comprising 125,000,000 new LTL Shares and 125,000,000 LTL Shares offered for sale by the LTL Vendors, were offered for application by way of public offer of 50,000,000 LTL Shares and the placing of 200,000,000 LTL Shares, at a price of S$0.46 per LTL Share. At the close of the Share Offer at 12 p.m. on 5th April, 2000, a total of 315,977,000 LTL Shares have been validly applied for under the public offer, equivalent to approximately 6.3 times of the total number of 50,000,000 LTL Shares available under the public offer. Of the 200,000,000 LTL Shares available under the placing, 199,945,000 LTL Shares have been successfully subscribed for, the balance of 55,000 LTL Shares resulting from invalid applications were transferred to satisfy demand under the public offer. The total proceeds of the issue of 125,000,000 new LTL Shares, net of estimated expenses, to be received by LTL is expected to be approximately S$52,000,000 (equivalent to approximately HK$237,120,000) and will be used to finance the acquisition of fixed assets, expansion of existing facilities, new products/business ventures, repayment of bank loans and working capital. The total proceeds of the sale of the 125,000,000 LTL Shares, net of estimated expenses, to be received by the Group is expected be approximately S$52,000,000 (equivalent to approximately HK$237,120,000) and will be used as the general working capital of the Group. An announcement in respect of the results of the Share Offer will be released simultaneously in Singapore. Trading of the LTL Shares on the Singapore Exchange is expected to commence on 7th April, 2000. By order of the Board THE GRANDE HOLDINGS LIMITED Christopher W. Ho President and Group Chief Executive Hong Kong, 6th April, 2000 In this announcement, the translation of Singapore dollars into Hong Kong dollars is based on the exchange rate of S$1 to HK$4.56.