Numico successfully completes financing of EAC Nutrition acquisition

Schiphol, 22 December 2005 - Royal Numico N.V. today successfully completed the financing of the EAC Nutrition acquisition through a new senior bank loan facility and private placement of senior notes in the United States of America.

On 14 November 2005, Numico announced the intention to acquire EAC Nutrition - a leading Asian Baby Food company - for a total consideration of EUR 1.2 bn in cash. To finance part of the consideration, Numico issued 16.6 mln new ordinary shares for a total value of EUR 550 mln on the day of the announcement. The remaining part of the financing will be funded by the proceeds of EUR 168 mln raised through a private placement of senior notes in the US and EUR 482 mln that will be drawn from the new bank loan facility of EUR 1,250 mln.

The new bank loan facility consists of a committed unsecured revolving multi-currency credit facility amounting to EUR 1,250 mln, maturing on 16 December 2010, which has been syndicated to a large group of well-reputed banks. The new facility - of which approx. EUR 1 bn will initially be drawn - will be used i) to replace the existing bank loan facility, ii) to pay a portion of the acquisition consideration for EAC Nutrition and iii) will be used for general purposes. The interest margin, which is linked to a leverage ratio grid, will vary from 0.90% to 0.25% over EURIBOR, compared to 0.60% to 0.30% over EURIBOR under the existing facility. Numico is confident that the applicable interest margin will return to the level that prevailed prior to this refinancing before the end of 2006. The existing EUR 1.0 bn credit facility - arranged in December 2004 - will be cancelled. The write-down of the related accrued costs of EUR (2) mln will subsequently be taken in the fourth quarter of 2005.

Numico has also successfully completed the issuance of USD 198 mln (EUR 168 mln) in senior notes through a private placement in the US. The senior notes consist of three tranches with maturities of 3 years (USD 108 mln), 4 years (USD 20 mln) and 5 years (USD 70 mln) and provide Numico with an excellent opportunity to lower interest costs and further diversify the company's overall debt maturity profile. The notes have been placed with the same high quality investor base that subscribed to Numico's senior notes private placement of USD 425 mln that was completed on 23 June 2005. The related dollar exposure has been hedged by a dollar/euro cross currency swap.

The acquisition of EAC Nutrition is expected to be completed on Monday 2 January 2006.

Royal Numico is a high-growth, high-margin specialised nutrition company with leading positions in Baby Food and Clinical Nutrition and brings products to the market under the brand names Nutricia, Milupa and Cow & Gate, among others. The company serves customers in over 100 countries and employs approx. 11,000 people (see also: www.numico.com).

For any questions you might have, please contact:

Royal Numico N.V. Corporate Communications tel. +31 20 456 9077
Royal Numico N.V. Investor Relations tel. +31 20 456 9003

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