Royal Caribbean Acknowledges P&O Merger with Carnival

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. today noted the decision announced earlier by the Board of P&O Princess Cruises, withdrawing its recommendation of the merger agreed between the two companies in November 2001. Richard Fain, chairman and chief executive of Royal Caribbean, said: "Clearly, we regret that the Board of P & O Princess is taking this action. We remain today as convinced as ever that the pairing of our two companies would be a great partnership and a great business. Ultimately, it is the shareholders of P & O Princess who must decide what is best for their company." As stipulated under the terms of the merger, the implementation agreement of November 2001 has now been terminated and P & O Princess has accordingly paid Royal Caribbean the agreed break fee of $62.5 million. Both companies have also executed mutual releases and the joint venture between them, also agreed upon last November, will be terminated on January 1st 2003, provided that there has been no change of control of either company prior to that date.