AvestaPolarit holds 98.63 per cent of Avesta Sheffield shares

AvestaPolarit holds 98.63 per cent of Avesta Sheffield shares AvestaPolarit Oyj Abp has been informed by D. Carnegie AB, manager of the Exchange Offer for the combination of Outokumpu Steel and Avesta Sheffield to form AvestaPolarit, that following the extension of the acceptance period to 2 February, 2001, the total of valid acceptances submitted by Avesta Sheffield shareholders now represents 155,831,185 shares and 98.63% of the total number of shares and voting rights in Avesta Sheffield. The Board of AvestaPolarit has accepted the share subscriptions made during the extended acceptance period of the Exchange Offer (January 22, 2001 to February 2, 2001) and decided to increase the share capital of the Company by EUR 3,346,863.84 to EUR 188,428,839.84. The increase is carried out by issuing 6,197,896 new shares having an accounting par value of EUR 0.54 each, based on an authorisation by the Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting of the Company, held on November 10, 2000. The Company does not intend to further extend the acceptance period. Instead, the Board of AvestaPolarit has decided to initiate a compulsory acquisition procedure in accordance with the Swedish Companies Act to acquire those Avesta Sheffield shares not tendered in the Exchange Offer. For further information please contact: Stockholm: Inga Lundberg, Manager - Investor & Media Relations Telephone: +46 8 613 4419 or +46 70 656 5695 e-mail: inga.lundberg@avestapolarit.com Espoo: Karrie Kaitue, Executive VP - M&A and Legal Telephone: +358 9 421 2426 or +358 40 501 5054 e-mail: karrie.kaitue@avestapolarit.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/2001/02/06/20010206BIT00670/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/06/20010206BIT00670/bit0002.pdf