Custos' Board of Directors proposes synthetic purchase of own shares

Custos' Board of Directors proposes synthetic purchase of own shares Custos' Board of Directors today decided to propose that the Annual General Meeting of Custos, to be held on April 14, 1999, give the Board of Directors mandate to synthetically purchase a maximum of 5 million of Custos' own shares. The background is that the proposal regarding purchase of own shares that has been expected from the Swedish Government has been postponed on several occasions. Today it does not seem likely that this possibility will be available before the year 2000. Purchase of own shares is attractive from a number of perspectives: 1. The net asset value increases if shares are acquired at a discount and subsequently are eliminated. 2. The procedure is considerably simpler for Custos' shareholders compared to a redemption of shares, as it does not require an active measure from the shareholders (no application procedure, no withholding tax for foreign shareholders etc). In practice, the procedure is as follows: Custos enters into a swap-agreement with Handelsbanken Markets, in which Custos swaps interest for the total return on the Custos share. The economic consequence of this agreement equals a purchase of own shares at market price. The agreement is ended by Custos targeting a redemption of own shares to Handelsbanken Markets, thus eliminating the shares on which the swap-agreement is based. Christer Gardell, CEO of Custos, states: "This procedure is attractive to all Custos' shareholders, those who want to divest shares are offered liquidity in the market, while those who retain their shares receive the excess value which the selling shareholders refrain from". Stockholm, March 17, 1999 AKTIEBOLAGET CUSTOS (publ) The Board of Directors For further questions please contact Mr. Christer Gardell (+46 8 440 57 70) ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/03/17/19990317BIT00310/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/03/17/19990317BIT00310/bit0002.pdf