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Carnival and TUI to Withdraw German Anti-Trust Filing for Joint Venture
MIAMI, Sept 05, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc(NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) today announced that it has agreed with Germany'sTUI AG (DE: TUAG00) to withdraw its antitrust filings with the German FederalCartel Agency, Bundeskartellamt, and the Austrian Federal Cartel Agency,Bundeswettbewerbsbehorde. Carnival and TUI had agreed to form a joint ventureto develop a new cruise brand for Germany.Carnival cited an extremely difficult regulatory environment in Germanywhich makes it impossible to close the proposed joint venture this fiscalyear. Failure to do so would create adverse tax consequences for the companythat would impact the economics of the transaction. As a result of theregulatory and tax issues Carnival and TUI have agreed not to proceed with theproposed joint venture but will continue to explore other opportunities.
Carnival will continue to grow its presence in Germany organically throughnew ship construction for its successful AIDA and Costa brands, as well asthrough Cunard Line whose Queen Mary 2 will operate a series of trans-Atlanticcrossings from Hamburg in 2008.
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise vacation group in theworld, with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe andAustralia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, PrincessCruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, OceanVillage, P&O Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia.
Together, these brands operate 82 ships totaling 154,000 lower berths with17 new ships scheduled to enter service between December 2007 and June 2011.Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Tours and PrincessTours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded onboth the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc isthe only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE100 indices.
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc
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