MORRISVILLE, N.C., Sept. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance One International, Inc. (NYSE: AOI) announced in October 2001 that the Directorate General for Competition ("DGCOMP") of the European Commission ("EC") began an administrative investigation into certain tobacco buying and selling practices alleged to have occurred within the leaf tobacco industry in some countries within the European Union, including Spain and Italy.  In 2004, the EC fined the Company and its Spanish subsidiaries euro 4.4 million (US$5.6 million), and in 2005 fined the Company and its Italian subsidiaries euro 24.0 million (US$28.8 million). As previously announced, AOI fully recognized the impact of, and paid in full, each of the above-referenced fines in prior fiscal years.  The Company and its applicable subsidiaries are in various stages of the appellate process with respect to the referenced cases.  AOI is studying the judgment of the European Union's General Court (the "General Court"), announced earlier today in Case T-25/06, and is evaluating its position in such regard.  Judgments of the General Court may be appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

SOURCE Alliance One International, Inc.