Ericsson, Industrivärden, Investor AB and Merrill Lynch launch USD 300 million mobile Internet venture capital fund

Ericsson, Industrivärden, Investor AB and Merrill Lynch launch USD 300 million mobile Internet venture capital fund Ericsson, Industrivärden, Investor AB and Merrill Lynch today announced their agreement to form Ericsson Venture Partners, a USD 300 million venture capital fund, targeting mobil Internet development. Ericsson Venture Partners will invest primarily in mobile Internet ventures and technologies, focusing on Europe and North America. Investments will cover all aspects of mobile Internet technology, including network infrastructure, services and applications. "We expect more mobile Internet users than fixed Internet users already by 2003, and this means an incredible demand for building out networks and creating new services," said Kurt Hellström, President of Ericsson. "By joining the knowledge of these four venture partners this initiative will provide a very strong drive for the creation of the mobile Internet." "As a holding company we feel it is natural to seek value growth in the rapidly growing mobile Internet segment," said Clas Reuterskiöld, President and CEO of Industrivärden. "The wealth of experience offered by Ericsson Venture Partners will give interesting growth companies access to valuable support in their continuing development." "We are very much looking forward to being a part of the development of the innovative and exciting mobile Internet industry in which we see enormous growth potential," said Marcus Wallenberg, President and CEO of Investor AB. "A partnership like this is definitely in line with our strategy and further deepens and complements Investor's existing activities in the area." "We are delighted with the opportunity to become a partner in this innovative new venture," said David Komansky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Merrill Lynch. "We are confident the expertise of the venture partners will add significant value to new companies looking to target mobile Internet development." Each venture partner will commit USD 75 million each, totaling an aggregated committed fund capital of USD 300 million. The fund is expected to be operational by September/October 2000. Ericsson Venture Partners will direct its activities out of offices in Stockholm and New York. Ericsson is the leading communications supplier, combining innovation in mobility and Internet in creating the new era of Mobile Internet. Ericsson provides total solutions covering everything from systems and applications to mobile phones and other communications tools. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for customers all over the world. Read more at http://www.ericsson.com/pressroom AB Industrivärden is one of Sweden's largest holding companies with a stock portfolio worth approximately USD 8 billion. The mission is to invest in stocks and, through active ownership, create significant growth in the portfolio companies. The majority of the portfolio consists of listed stocks with sizeable holdings in Ericsson, Handelsbanken, Pfizer, SCA, Sandvik, Skandia and Skanska. In addition, Industrivärden has a portfolio of unlisted companies. Read more at http://www.industrivarden.se/ Investor AB is a long-term active global shareholder in a number of public multinational companies such as Ericsson, AstraZeneca and ABB. In addition, Investor has extensive global private equity operations with over USD 3 billion in assets under management in high growth sectors such as information technology, healthcare, education and financial services. The total net asset value of Investor AB is approximately USD 20 billion. Investor is based in Stockholm with offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Palo Alto. The largest shareholders are the Wallenberg family foundations and a number of mutual and pension funds. For more information on Investor AB, go to http://www.investorab.com Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading financial management and advisory companies with offices in 44 countries and total client assets of about $1.8 trillion. As an investment bank, it is the top global underwriter and market maker of debt and equity securities and a leading strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals worldwide. Through Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, the company is one of the world's largest managers of financial assets. For more information on Merrill Lynch, go to http://www.ml.com FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Ericsson Pia Gideon, Vice President External Relations, Ericsson Phone: +46 70 519 28 64; E-mail: pia.gideon@lme.ericsson.se Industrivärden Clas Reuterskiöld, CEO, Industrivärden Phone: +46 8 666 64 00; E-mail: clas.reuterskiold@industrivarden.se Investor Nils Ingvar Lundin, Managing Director Corporate Relations Phone: +46 70 514 20 49; E-mail: nilsingvar.lundin@investorab.com Merrill Lynch Robb Corrigan, Merrill Lynch Media Relations Phone: +44 (0) 207 867 4717; Email: robert_corrigan@ml.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/08/30/20000830BIT00250/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/08/30/20000830BIT00250/bit0002.pdf