Askero extends the acceptance period in the offer for Sigma to 10 June

This press release may not, directly or indirectly, be distributed in or to Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa or the United States of America. The offer is not being made to persons in those countries or elsewhere where their participation requires further offer documents, filings or other measures in addition to those required by Swedish law. This is a translation of the Swedish press release. In the event of any discrepancies, the Swedish version shall prevail.

• The acceptance period for the shareholders in Sigma AB (publ) (“Sigma”) is extended up to and including 10 June 2008 at 3:00 p.m. CET. The increased offer price of SEK 7.50 per share remains unchanged.

• Askero Utveckling AB (”Askero”) has so far reached an acceptance level corresponding to approximately 67.3 per cent of the shares and approximately 70.3 per cent of the votes in Sigma.

• Accordingly, a clear majority of the shareholders have accepted Askero’s offer, however not sufficient to reach 90 per cent.

• In the light of the dialogue that Askero has pursued with several shareholders, which at present have chosen not to accept the Offer but neither have rejected it, Askero finds it reasonable to offer the shareholders further time to reflect on whether the alternative of the offer being withdrawn is better than an offer being completed with a premium of approximately 40-45 per cent.

Based on a preliminary review at the end of the acceptance period on 23 May 2008, 391,164 shares of series A and 33,909,465 shares of series B had been tendered into the offer. Together with Danir AB’s 615,171 shares of series A and 23,454,828 shares of series B, which will be transferred to Askero in connection with completion of the offer, this corresponds to 67.3 per cent of the shares and 70.3 per cent of the votes in Sigma. A final review and summary of submitted acceptance forms may increase the acceptance level, however not significantly.

Since completion of the offer is conditional upon, among other things, that Askero becomes owner of more than 90 per cent of the total number of shares in Sigma, all conditions for the offer were not satisfied at the end of the acceptance period. Provided that Askero announces that all conditions for the offer have been satisfied or waived no later than 13 June 2008, settlement is expected to begin on or about 17 June 2008. During the extended offer all conditions set forth in the offer, including the right to waive such conditions, will apply. As set forth in the offer document, the right to withdraw submitted acceptances applies in the same manner during the extended acceptance period.

For further information about the offer, see Askero’s offer document which was published on 24 April 2008 and the supplements to the offer document which were published on 8 and 12 May 2008, respectively.

For further information, please contact:
Martin Gren, telephone +46 (0)708 13 74 58
Mats Boström, telephone +46 (0)703 79 0745
Dan Olofsson, telephone +46 (0)703 79 23 20