The independent Directors of the Board of BTL

Pressrelease The independent Directors of the Board of BTL note the announcement by Stinnes AG that it has increased its shareholding in BTL from 35.0% to 54.7% by purhasing shares in the market. Whilst the independent Directors accept the commercial logic of the offer, they have not yet evaluated the terms. The independent Directors have appointed an external advisor to help them to evaluate the offer. As already stated in yesterday's press release from BTL, the independent Directors will publish the results of this evaluation within two weeks. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/02/02/19990202BIT00160/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/02/02/19990202BIT00160/bit0002.pdf