| Estée Lauder Companies Announces Accelerated Repurchase of Class A Common Stock |
| NEW YORK, Mar 06, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) announced that it has
entered into an "overnight share repurchase" agreement with Bank of
America, N.A. to repurchase from the bank approximately $750 million
of its outstanding shares of the Company's Class A Common Stock. The
accelerated repurchase is part of the Company's share repurchase
program, which was last increased by 20 million shares on February 15,
2007. Excluding the impact of the accelerated share repurchase, the
Company has 209.0 million shares of Class A and Class B Common Stock
outstanding.
Under the agreement, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. expects to purchase later this week approximately 16 million shares of its Class A Common Stock at a cost of approximately $750 million from Bank of America. It is expected that Bank of America will purchase an equivalent number of shares that it initially delivers to the Company over a period of the next several months. Final purchase price adjustment will be based on trading prices in the Company's Class A Common Stock over this period. All of the shares repurchased under the agreement will be placed into treasury. In order to fund the initial purchase, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will use cash on hand supplemented by borrowings of up to $750 million under its existing commercial paper program or other short-term facilities, which may be refinanced from time to time. The forward-looking statements in this press release, including those containing the words "may", "expect" or similar expressions, are based on the Company's current understandings. Actual actions, timing and results may differ materially from those forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including the Company's future operating results and financial condition (see the "Forward-Looking Information" section of the Company's latest quarterly report on Form 10-Q for additional factors that could affect operating results and financial condition) and changes in the public equity and debt markets that could affect the terms upon which the overnight share repurchase is settled. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The Company's products are sold in over 130 countries and territories under well-recognized brand names, including Estée Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Lab Series, Origins, M-A-C, Bobbi Brown, Tommy Hilfiger, La Mer, Donna Karan, Aveda, Jo Malone, Bumble and bumble, Darphin, Michael Kors, Rodan + Fields, American Beauty, Flirt!, Good Skin(TM), Donald Trump The Fragrance, Grassroots, Sean John, Missoni, Daisy Fuentes and Tom Ford Beauty. An electronic version of this release can be found at the Company's Website, www.elcompanies.com. SOURCE: The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Investor Relations: Dennis D'Andrea, 212-572-4384 or Media Relations: Sally Susman, 212-572-4430 |
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