Silja Oy Ab News

Sea Containers Ltd. announced that it has completed the sale of its Baltic ferry subsidiary Silja Oy Ab to Estonian ferry operator AS Tallink Grupp. The sale, which was announced on June 12, was subject to receipt of regulatory approvals from Finnish, Swedish and Estonian competition authorities, all of which have been granted. The consideration for the sale of Silja's core business is $563m and 5m ordinary shares in Tallink equivalent to $22m. Corporate approval was given by Tallink shareholders at an EGM on June 22. The transaction does not include Silja's fast ferry services from Helsinki, Finland to Tallinn, Estonia and the two SuperSeaCat ferries, which will be retained by Sea Containers and operated as a stand-alone business under the SuperSeaCat brand name

New York against Sea Containers Ltd. matter. charges. sales. newly identified assets had been identified as impaired. financial results for the first three quarters of 2005. on March 24, 2006, constituting a drop of nearly 38% in a single day.

Sea Containers Ltd. has announced that the company is completely quitting the ferry business, including its SeaStreak commuter service between New York City and New Jersey, taking a $500 million charge and was in talks to amend some of its loan agreements. Shares of the Bermuda-registered passenger transport and marine container leasing company fell as much as 29 percent after the announcement. Sea Containers said it would restate its earnings for all four quarters of 2005 and delay filing its annual reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission until April to allow time to finalize bank negotiations and outstanding accounting issues.

its ferries division and other matters. Background The company's ferries business is composed of three units. ferries, ro-pax ships, fast ferries and cruise ships. European waters other than in the Baltic. Manhattan. services to Estonia, the unsuccessful m.v. the Swedish market introduced by competitors. reputation for quality, with its core business remaining profitable. large measure to high fuel prices. recover the extra cost through fuel surcharges. earnings. capacity and reduced profits from low tax merchandise sales. Channel. loss in 2005 due largely to high fuel costs. such increases to a certain level before switching to cars, buses and trains. eliminate or greatly reduce the operating losses being incurred. to buy the business. controlled auction of Silja.

Aker Yards and Silja Oy Ab have signed a contract for modernizing the two passenger-car ferries Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony. The refurbishment includes renewing the vessels passenger areas to conform to the demands of the future The project will be managed by Aker Finnyards Lifecycle services, which offers comprehensive and cost efficient services to cruise and passenger ship operators. The refurbishment will be carried out in cooperation with partners. The Turku Repair yard offers facilities, and the project means work for several turnkey contractors.