Pickfords and Allied Pickfords to Combine With North American Van Lines to Create Global Industry Leader / Combined Company to Maintain Well-known Brands and Pu

NEW YORK (PROTEXT) - Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc. ("CD&R"),a private investment firm with offices in London and New York,and North American Van Lines, Inc. today announced a definitiveagreement to merge Pickfords, Allied Pickfords and Allied VanLines with North American Van Lines in a transaction valued atapproximately $450 million. These companies are among the world'slargest and best-known relocation and logistics companies. Themerger will create a more effective global competitor withlocations in 36 countries and worldwide revenues of more than US$2 billion. North American stated that it intends to maintain the highprofile brand names of each of the acquired companies, which areamong the most recognized household, commercial and industrialbrands in the industry. Those brands include Pickfords in theU.K.; Allied Pickfords in Europe, Australia and Asia; Allied VanLines in the U.S. and Canada; and North American Van Lines in theU.S. and Canada. Other brands also owned by the company includeArthur Pierre, Varekamp, Hoults, Pitts and Scott and midiData.The combined company will be a market leader in relocationsworldwide. It will be headquartered in the U.S. in Fort Wayne,Indiana, and will maintain executive offices in Naperville,Illinois; Enfield, England; and Melbourne, Australia. The transaction will create an industry leader in thehousehold goods moving business and will strengthen NorthAmerican's specialized transportation of high value products bypermitting seamless service spanning the globe. Under the termsof the acquisition agreement, NFC plc (London Exchange: NFC),Allied's parent, will receive US $400 million in cash,approximately US $25 million in preferred stock and common stockrepresenting approximately 20 percent of the capital stock ofNorth American's parent company, NA Holding Corporation, pluswarrants to acquire an additional 10 percent of the common sharesoutstanding. An investment fund managed by CD&R, management andagents will own the balance of the combined company. James W. Rogers, a principal of CD&R, will serve as theChairman of the new company and R. Barry Uber, North American VanLines' President and Chief Executive Officer, will continue asthe new Chief Executive Officer of the company. Michael Fergus,the President and Chief Executive Officer of Allied Van Lineswill continue to lead the Allied Van Lines business in the U.S.and Canada. Julian Nicholls will continue to head up theoperations of Pickfords and Allied Pickfords in Europe, and KevinPickford will continue to manage the operations of AlliedPickfords in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. A fund managed bythe firm purchased North American Van Lines from Norfolk SouthernCorporation in March of 1998. "We are pleased that NFC shares our optimism about theprospects for this merger and will retain a significant equitystake in the new enterprise," said Joseph L. Rice, III, Chairmanof CD&R. "Our firm takes great pride in building businesses withtalented managers and in supporting bold operational initiatives,such as the merger announced today. That is the approach we havetaken to private equity investment for the past 20 years and theapproach we will continue to employ as we expand our activitiesin Europe." "Our new Company will be a more effective competitor in globalrelocation services and logistics solutions with a passionatecommitment from our family of associates, agents and drivers tohigh quality customer satisfaction. We will aggressively pursueand invest for new growth opportunities," said Mr. Rogers. "Thismerger provides us the opportunity to achieve market leadership,a challenging and rewarding work environment and strong financialperformance. We will create real value for our customers, ourinvestors and the many talented members of our agent, driver andassociate network." "We bring together two outstanding teams with an agent networkunmatched in the industry. Our ability to deliver differentiatedsolutions to our customers will make us a powerful globalcompetitor," said Mr. Uber. "We will have the size, scope and management leadership toprovide the most innovative service offerings in the business,"said Mr. Nichols. "I'm excited about the opportunities thismerger provides for all of our stakeholders." Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc. is one of the oldest and mostrespected private equity investment firms. With $4.5 billion ofequity capital under management, the firm's distinguishingcharacteristic is its focus on identifying and capturingoperational improvements in its portfolio companies. In additionto operational improvements, CD&R has initiated major mergers andacquisitions for its portfolio companies. For example, in 1987,the firm created the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company by combiningthe tire businesses of the Uniroyal Tire Company and B.F.Goodrich. In 1994 the firm orchestrated the merger of Van KampenMerritt Companies and American Capital Management to create anindustry leading money management firm with $44 billion in assetsunder management. In 1998, the firm established Global DecisionsGroup, a financial and energy markets information provider, bycombining McCarthy, Crisanti & Maffei and Cambridge ResearchAssociates. Since its founding in 1978, CD&R has invested in 29companies with aggregate annual sales of more than $20 billion,including such well know brand names as Kinko's, AlliantFoodservice, and Lexmark International, among other leadingcompanies. (http://www.cdr-inc.com) North American Van Lines is a recognized leader in themovement of household goods, specialized transportation of highvalue products and logistic solutions for individuals,corporations and government clients worldwide, with nearly $1billion in annual revenue. Established in 1933, the companyoperates through a network of agents with more than 780 locationsin the U.S. and Canada and 350 locations overseas. The company isheadquartered in Fort Wayne, Ind., and currently employsapproximately 3,200 people worldwide. The North Americantrademark is considered one of the most valuable brand names inthe moving industry and, in independent research, the companyconsistently ranks among the top van lines in terms of brandrecognition and customer satisfaction. In 1998, North Americanmoved more than 440,000 shipments. North American is wholly ownedby a fund managed by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and by themanagement and agents of North American. (http://www.navl.com) Established in 1928, Allied Van Lines is the oldest and mostrecognized name in the moving services industry with more than550 agent locations in North America and representatives in morethan 130 countries worldwide. Allied Van Lines' moving servicebusiness consists of Allied Van Lines, Pickfords, AlliedInternational and Allied Pickfords. The company has a strongmarket position in international relocation. Pickfords is themarket leader in the United Kingdom. The company is headquarteredin Naperville, Ill. and employs 4,000 people worldwide.(http://www.alliedvan.com) NFC is a leading provider of logistics and moving servicesworldwide. Through its subsidiary, Exel Logistics, the companyoffers logistics and supply chain management services to itsretail and manufacturing customers worldwide.(http://www.nfc.com) (http://www.exel.com) ots Original TextService: Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc. Internet:http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Thomas C. Franco or Joseph W.McDonnell, both of Broadgate Consultants, Inc., 212-232-2222, forCD&R Web site: http://www.navl.com Web site:http://www.alliedvan.com Web site: http://www.nfc.com Web site:http://www.exel.com Web site: http://www.cdr-inc.com

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