OREANDA-NEWS. December 17, 2007. Offer unconditional in all respects. Centroferve, a wholly owned subsidiary of Severstal, announces that Condition (b) to the Offer, which is set out in Part A (Conditions of the Revised Offer) of Appendix I to the Revised Offer Document, has been satisfied and that, accordingly, the Offer is unconditional in all respects.

Celtic Shareholders who have accepted or accept the Offer while it remains open for acceptance will receive aggregate cash consideration of Ј2.90 per Celtic Share.  Settlement of the consideration to which an accepting Celtic Shareholder is entitled under the Offer will be effected in the following manner:

•  in the case of acceptances of the Revised Offer received, valid and complete in all respects, prior to the date of this announcement, within 14 days of the date of this announcement; or

•   in the case of acceptances of the Revised Offer received, valid and complete in all respects, after the date of this announcement but while the Offer remains open for acceptance, within 14 days of such receipt.

Celtic Shareholders who have not yet accepted the Offer and wish to do so should complete a Form of Acceptance and return it to Capita Registrars (by post, to Capita Registrars, PO Box 7117, Dublin 2, Ireland or, during normal business hours only, by hand to Capita Registrars, Unit 5, Manor Street Business Park, Manor Street, Dublin 7, Ireland) as soon as possible. 

The Offer will remain open for acceptance until 3.00pm (Dublin time) on 30 January 2008.

Centroferve will now procure that Celtic Resources Holdings plc applies for cancellation of the trading of Celtic Shares to take effect on 17 January 2008.  Cessation of trading will significantly reduce the liquidity and marketability of any Celtic Shares in respect of which acceptances of the Offer are not submitted.

Having received acceptances of the Offer in respect of more than 80% of the Celtic Shares to which the Offer relates, Centroferve will shortly send out notices pursuant to the provisions of Section 204 of the Companies Act 1963 informing those holders of Celtic Shares who have not yet validly accepted the Offer of its intention to acquire compulsorily all outstanding Celtic Shares to which the Offer relates on the same terms as the Offer.

As at 3.00 p.m. on Friday 14 December 2007, acceptances of the Offer had been received in respect of 47,266,133 Celtic Shares (representing approximately 84.7 % of the Celtic Shares to which the Offer relates). 

Centroferve did not hold any Celtic Shares before the commencement of the Offer Period and has not acquired or agreed to acquire any Celtic Shares during the Offer Period.  Prior to the Offer Period, Bluecone, a company owned by Severstal, acquired 12,281,946 Celtic Shares, and during the Offer Period (but before the Original Offer was made) Bluecone acquired a further 4,301,056 Celtic Shares.  As a result, Bluecone owns 16,583,002 Celtic Shares representing approximately 29.7% of the issued share capital of Celtic, and the acceptances referred to above include an acceptance of the Offer by Bluecone in respect of all of the Celtic Shares held by Bluecone.  Other than the Celtic Shares held or acquired by Bluecone, no party acting in concert with Centroferve held before the commencement of the Offer Period, or acquired or agreed to acquire during the Offer Period, any Celtic Shares.

Terms defined in the Revised Offer Document dated 20 November 2007 have the same meaning in this announcement unless otherwise stated.