Certain Arison Family Trusts to Reduce Ownership of Carnival Corporation & plc by Up to 2%
MIAMI, Feb. 18, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE: CCL; LSE)(NYSE: CUK) announced today that certain trusts whose beneficiaries are members of the Arison family have advised Carnival Corporation that they plan to sell up to 17 million shares of Carnival Corporation common stock over a period of up to two years in market sales, representing up to approximately 2% of the total combined voting rights of Carnival Corporation & plc.
Of the shares planned for sale, none are held by Micky Arison, the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, or by any trusts or other entity of which Mr. Arison is a beneficiary. If all the shares covered by the sales plans and previously announced sales plans are sold, the Arison family and related entities will remain beneficial owners of approximately 230 million shares, constituting approximately 28.6% of the total combined voting rights of Carnival Corporation & plc.
The sellers have advised Carnival Corporation that they are selling for tax planning and diversification purposes. In connection with the sales, the sellers are expected to enter into one or more sales plans under Rule 10b5-1. Rule 10b5-1 permits the creation of written plans for buying or selling stock at a time when insiders are not in possession of material non-public information. Once a plan is established, the insider does not retain or exercise any discretion over sales of stock under the plan and the pre-planned trades can be executed at later dates as set forth in the plan, without regard to any subsequent material non-public information that the insider might receive.
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise vacation group in the world, with a portfolio of 12 cruise brands in North America, Europe and Australia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Windstar Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises, Swan Hellenic, and P&O Cruises Australia.
Together, these brands operate 77 ships totaling more than 132,000 lower berths with 13 new ships scheduled for delivery between April 2005 and April 2009. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon, Holland America Tours and Princess Tours. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.
Additional information is available online at http://www.carnivalcorp.com and http://www.carnivalplc.com .
SOURCE Carnival Corporation
CONTACT: Media, in U.S., Tim Gallagher of Carnival Corporation & plc,
+1-305-599-2600, ext. 16000, or in U.K., Sarah Tovey of Brunswick Group,
+011-44-(0)20-7404-5959, for Carnival Corporation & plc; or Investor Relations
in U.S. and U.K., Beth Roberts of Carnival Corporation & plc, +1-305-406-4832
