Germany: The General Assembly of Carlsberg’s German subsidiary Holsten-Brauerei approved on 22 June 2004 that Holsten sells the breweries König-Brauerei in Duisburg and Licher Privatbrauerei in Lich to the Bitburger Group at a total enterprise value of € 469 million (DKK 3.5 billion), according to Carlsberg A/S statement. This deal will be sought completed as soon as possible.

The German competition authorities have approved Holsten’s sale of the water business Hansa-Brunnen to Lange-HANSA-Holding GmbH, so this deal can now be closed.

Carlsberg is selling Holsten activities at a total enterprise value of € 645 (DKK 4.8 billion). Due to the increased sales price of the water business compared to the originally expected price, the net acquisition price of the assets which Carlsberg retains is reduced from € 437 million (DKK 3.2 billion) to € 420 million (DKK 3.1 billion).

“I am very satisfied that we have achieved a higher price than expected for the water business and that the selling of the König and Licher breweries most likely will be closed soon. Together with the staff reduction recently announced by Holsten, this means that we can now concentrate on improving the operation of Holsten”, says Nils S. Andersen, President and CEO of Carlsberg.

23 June, 2004