John Fairfax Holdings Limited
ACN 008 663 161

SYDNEY, March 31, 2000 – John Fairfax Group Finance Pty Limited this morning priced a five-year $150 million issue of Senior Fixed Rate Medium Term Notes in the domestic market.

Details of the 15 July, 2005 issue were:

Issue size: A$150 million
Spread over swap mid: 68 bps
Spread over 15 July 2005 CGL: 123.5 bps
Coupon: 7.5%
Yield: 7.725%
Issue Price: 100.691
Rating: BBB+ (Standard & Poor’s)

Mr Mark Bayliss, Chief Financial Officer for Fairfax, said: "We are very pleased with the market’s response to this issue, which is a success in every respect, particularly given the vigorous competition for investment funds in the market at this time. We have advanced our objectives of retiring short-term debt and extending our overall liability profile. The market’s response, and the support of our long term investors, reaffirms Fairfax’s commitment to proven strategies for success: strengthening the core businesses, building new platforms for growth and improving management and overall performance."

Mr Angus Cameron, Associate Director of Westpac Corporate Securities commented: "This transaction has established Fairfax as the first corporate in the triple B credit sector to build a yield curve in the domestic market. The transaction was oversubscribed, reflecting strong demand from both onshore and offshore investors for a quality Australian corporate. This follows from Fairfax’s highly successful initial issue 12 months ago that pioneered this credit rating in the Australian corporate bond market."

Ms Rhonda McCann, Director of ANZ’s Primary Markets commented: "Investors responded positively to the consistent financial performance of Fairfax. The combination of its dominant position in the traditional publishing business and its forward looking e-commerce/media strategy through "f2" was seen as a solid foundation for its BBB+ rating."

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For further information:
Dale Bridle, Group Treasurer, John Fairfax Holdings Limited Ph: 612 9282 3632

Rhonda McCann, Director, Primary Markets Group, ANZ Ph: 612 9227 1959

Angus Cameron, Associate Director, Corporate Securities, WBC Ph: 612 9284 8942

Note to editors
John Fairfax Holdings [ASX:FXJ] is Australia’s leading publishing group. Its mastheads include The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, The Age, The Sun-Herald and BRW. In addition, the Company publishes financial and consumer magazines, and provides online and interactive services. In 1999, the Company had revenues of over $1.1 billion. Fairfax, through f2, its wholly owned subsidiary for its online and interactive businesses, is building a strong position in e-commerce and is Australia’s leading content provider on the Internet, with over 2.3 million page views per day (2.4 million site visits per week) across a network of sites including news, business, investing, personal finance, motoring, sports, auctions, property, employment, freemail, search/homepage, shopping, travel, technology, city guides, and directories.

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