Atle completes divestment of Digital Vision holdings
Atle completes divestment of Digital Vision holdings * Exit gains: SEK 11 m Atle IT has sold 1,040,670 Digital Vision shares, corresponding to approximately 19.5% of the capital and votes of this corporation, to a company owned by Lars Taflin. This divestment, representing all of Atle's residual holdings in Digital Vision, generated an exit gain of some SEK 11 m. Atle now considers that it has fulfilled its ownership role in Digital Vision and views Mr. Taflin- former main owner of Autodiagnos, previously quoted on the Stockholm SBI list- as an appropriate owner, both in industrial terms, and for the long term. This divestment is consistent with Atle's business concept of exiting holdings after fulfilling its tasks. Digital Vision is a world leader in high-tech digital image processing equipment for film, video and telecommunication. Stockholm, Sweden, 16 January 2001 Atle AB (publ) For more information, please contact Bengt Paulsson, Chairman of Atle IT, tel.: 46 (0)70 591 7294 Lars Taflin, tel.: 46 (0)709-355 496 Atle- key facts Atle is a growth company that intends to be 2-3 times its current size in 5 years' time. Atle is a private equity player, investing in unlisted companies, participating actively in their development, and after a few years, finding them a suitable new home, thereby realising value growth. Since 1993, the Atle group's earnings have risen progressively, from SEK 373 m to SEK 1,025 m in 1999. Atle maintains a brisk transaction tempo, acquiring over 20 enterprises across all sectors each year. Since inception in 1992, Atle has invested in approximately 200 businesses and exited from over 100. Its annual return from these exits has been nearly 50%. Atle is quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange's A List and has approximately 17,000 shareholders. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/01/16/20010116BIT00190/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/01/16/20010116BIT00190/bit0002.pdf