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15
November 2001
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| Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited
("Cheung Kong") and Hutchison Whampoa Limited ("Hutchison
Whampoa") have entered into agreements with Critical Path,
Inc. ("Critical Path"; NASDAQ: CPTH) to participate
in a US$95 million equity financing and debt retirement scheme.
Other co-investors in this transaction include General Atlantic
Partners, a leading private equity investment firm with over
US$4 billion of capital available for investment, and Vectis
Group, a global technology enterprise builder. |
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| Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa
jointly acquired US$12 million worth of convertible preferred
stocks of Critical Path and will own approximately 9% equity
interests upon full conversion of the preferred stocks into
common stocks. Subscription price per common stock, if converted,
roughly equals to US$1.05 per share. |
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| Subsequent to the announcement
of this transaction by Critical Path in the United States on
9 November, the stock price jumped from US$1.13, the closing
price of 8 November, to US$2.30 as at 14 November, representing
an increase of over 103%. |
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| Critical Path has also previously
announced the signing of a binding memorandum of understanding
to settle its pending shareholder and derivative litigation.
The funding of this equity financing by the investors is contingent
on the execution of final settlement agreements in that litigation. |
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| Founded in early 1997 and listed
in NASDAQ during 1999, Critical Path (http://www.cp.net)
has developed to become a global leading provider in communication
technology and complete messaging solutions for wireless and
wireline carriers (e.g. Orange France, Worldcom), service providers
(e.g. Deutsche Post), corporations (e.g. BNP Paribas) and government
(e.g. Canada). Prime focus of the company is to target (i) messaging
market and (ii) directory market - with core products such as
messaging hosting, messaging software, wireless messaging, secure
messaging, directory and meta-directory. |
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| Having achieved proven experience
and expertise with 142 million licensed mailboxes today, Critical
Path was ranked by IDC as the fastest growing messaging vendor
in the service provider market and positioned by both Giga and
Radicati as the market share leader for meta-directory. Headquartered
in San Francisco, Critical Path has established strong global
presence covering North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia,
with over 500 employees worldwide. |
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About Cheung
Kong (Holdings) Limited
Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited is the flagship company of the
Cheung Kong Group which consists of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd.,
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings
Ltd. and Hongkong Electric Holdings Ltd. All members of the
Cheung Kong Group are constituent stocks of Hang Seng Index,
and the combined market capitalization of the four companies
in the Group exceeds US$60 billion. Cheung Kong Holdings’
major businesses include property development and management,
IT / Internet operations, and investments. For more information,
please refer to www.ckh.com.hk |
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About Hutchison Whampoa Limited
Hutchison Whampoa Limited is a Hong Kong based multi-national
conglomerate with origins dating back to the 1800s. In 2000,
consolidated turnover (including associates) was over US$10
billion, and consolidated net profit was approximately US$4.4
billion. |
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| Hutchison operates five core
businesses in 34 countries: port and related services; telecommunications
and e-commerce; property and hotels; retail and manufacturing;
and energy and infrastructure. For more information, visit http://www.hutchison-whampoa.com |
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About General Atlantic
General Atlantic Partners, LLC, is the world's leading private
equity investment firm focused exclusively on investing in information
technology and communications businesses globally. The firm
was founded in 1980 and has over $4 billion of capital available
for investment. General Atlantic has invested in over 120 companies
and has current holdings in nearly 70 companies, of which almost
one-third are based outside the United States and which include
E*TRADE Group, Inc., Eclipsys, Exact, EXE Technologies, Exult,
Firepond, iFormation Group, Manugistics, Predictive Systems,
ProBusiness, Rebus, Screaming Media, SESA, Upromise, Xchanging
and Zagat. The firm is distinguished within the investment community
by its deep experience and expertise in information technology,
its global perspective and worldwide presence, its long-term
approach to investments, and its commitment to provide sustained
strategic assistance for its portfolio companies. General Atlantic
has over 90 professionals among its 130 employees worldwide
with offices in Greenwich, New York, Palo Alto, Reston, London,
Dusseldorf, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Sao Paulo. See
www.gapartners.com
for additional information. |
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About Vectis Group
Vectis Group is a global technology enterprise builder —
the first corporation of its kind dedicated to creating new,
high-growth businesses internationally by partnering with leading
technology companies and entrepreneurs. Vectis Group is a consortium
of leading global institutions including Whitney & Co.,
Santander Central Hispano Investment, Omninet Capital, and K1
Ventures. More information on Vectis Group can be found at:
www.vectisgroup.com. |
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