Announcement from Lyttelton Port Company Limited

Announcement from Lyttelton Port Company Limited and Port Otago Limited

As a result of the impact and consequences of the recent 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Canterbury on Saturday 4 September 2010 the Board of Lyttelton Port Company Limited (LPC) informed Port Otago Limited (POL) that it was not in a position to continue merger negotiations. The Boards have reluctantly agreed to call a halt to merger discussions.

LPC suffered significant damage to port infrastructure and facilities, which are fully insured. It is a huge credit to all staff that core services were resumed within a few hours of the earthquake following an evaluation by engineering and maintenance staff.

Given the magnitude and priority of the reinstatement works, it is not possible to continue merger negotiations.

Deputy Chairman Bill Luff says the earthquake has necessitated the company reviewing its short and long term asset management and development plans. That review process which will take some time, is now only just beginning, as the focus has been on returning to business as usual and ensuring customer requirements are fulfilled in the first instance.

“The landscape has changed significantly. Given this situation, it is only fair and prudent to cease the merger negotiations in order to allow the full resources of LPC to focus on both running the port and undertaking the recovery and rebuild project.”

Bill Luff says the Board and Management of LPC want to firstly assure customers that the port will continue to maintain its service levels and secondly to assure the community that it understands the absolute importance of a fully operational port as the economy recovers from the earthquake event.

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