UNITED AND CONTINENTAL CLOSE MERGER
Baku, October 2 (AZERTAC). United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL), formerly UAL Corporation, announced today that a wholly owned subsidiary has merged with Continental Airlines, Inc., and that Continental Airlines and United Air Lines, Inc. are now wholly owned subsidiaries of United Continental Holdings, Inc., creating a world-class global airline. Today, the common stock of United Continental Holdings, Inc. begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UAL.
United Continental Holdings, Inc. also announced the members of its board of directors, effective Oct. 1, 2010. The 16-member board includes six independent directors from each of United and Continental, Glenn Tilton, who will serve as non-executive chairman of the board, and Jeff Smisek, who will serve as president and chief executive officer. The independent directors are Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, Carolyn Corvi, W. James Farrell, Jane C. Garvey, Walter Isaacson, Henry L. Meyer III, Oscar Munoz, James J. O`Connor, Laurence E. Simmons, David J. Vitale, John H. Walker and Charles A. Yamarone. Additionally, the board has two union directors: Stephen R. Canale and Captain Wendy J. Morse.
With approximately $9 billion in unrestricted cash at closing, United expects the merger will deliver $1.0 billion to $1.2 billion in net annual synergies by 2013, including between $800 million and $900 million of incremental annual revenue, from expanded customer options resulting from the greater scope and scale of the network, fleet optimization and expanded service enabled by the broader network of the combined carrier. On a pro-forma basis, the combined company would have annual revenues of $31.4 billion, based on results for the 12 months ending June 30, 2010.