The European Commission today announced its decision to approve Imperial Tobacco Group PLC’s ("Imperial Tobacco") proposed acquisition of Altadis, S.A. ("Altadis").

Gareth Davis, Chief Executive, said: "We are pleased that the European Commission has approved our proposed acquisition of Altadis, subject to the enlarged group divesting a small number of fine cut tobacco, pipe tobacco and cigar brands in certain European markets, including Interval fine cut tobacco in France. We always anticipated some divestments and, in the context of the overall combined portfolios, these will not materially adversely affect the operational and financial performance of the enlarged group."

Imperial Tobacco envisages receiving approval of its proposed offer of €50 for each Altadis share (the "Offer") from the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (the "CNMV"), the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission, soon. The Offer acceptance period will commence after the CNMV’s approval is received.

Enquiries
Imperial Tobacco
Alex Parsons (Group Media Relations Manager)
Telephone: +44 (0) 7967 467241

Simon Evans (Group Press Officer)
Telephone: +44 (0) 7967 467684

John Nelson-Smith (Investor Relations Manager)
Telephone: +44 (0) 7919 391866

Citi (lead financial adviser to Imperial Tobacco)
Ian Carnegie-Brown
Ian Hart
Mark Todd
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7986 4000

Manuel Falco
Telephone: +34 (0) 91 538 4411

Hoare Govett (joint corporate broker to Imperial Tobacco)
Hugo Fisher
Paul Nicholls
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7678 8000

Lehman Brothers (financial adviser to Imperial Tobacco)
Ludovico del Balzo
Adrian Fisk
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7102 1000

Morgan Stanley (financial adviser and joint corporate broker to Imperial Tobacco)
Gavin Macdonald
Paul Baker
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7425 5000

Banco Santander (financial adviser to Imperial Tobacco)
Filipe Ribeiro-Ferreira
Georg Orssich
Telephone: +34 (0) 91 289 3371

Citi, Hoare Govett Limited, Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Morgan Stanley & Co. International Limited and Banco Santander, which are authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority, are acting exclusively for Imperial Tobacco and no one else in relation to the matters referred to in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than Imperial Tobacco for providing the protections afforded to clients of Citi, Hoare Govett Limited, Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Morgan Stanley & Co. International Limited and Banco Santander respectively nor for providing advice in relation to these matters, the content of this announcement or any matter referred to in it.