Annual General Meeting of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
Annual General Meeting of Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson The Annual General Meeting of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson was held on Friday March 31, in Stockholm. The Company's and the Group's income statements and balance sheets were adopted and the Board of Directors and the President were discharged from liability for the fiscal year 1999. The Meeting approved a dividend of SEK 2.00 per share. Shareholders who are recorded in the share register on the record date, April 5, 2000, are entitled to receive dividend, which is expected to be paid on April 10, 2000. The Meeting resolved on a bonus issue by an increase of the nominal amount of the share from 2.50 SEK to 4.00 SEK followed by a split 4:1. Trading of the share with the new nominal amount of 1.00 SEK is expected to start as of Monday, May 8, 2000. The Meeting resolved to authorize the Board to acquire shares in the Company on the following conditions: Acquisition of the Company's shares may be made at the OM Stockholm Exchange. The authorization may be exercised up to the Annual General Meeting in 2001. Maximum 1,000,000 B shares, i.e. 4,000,000 shares, subsequent bonus issue and split, may be acquired. Acquisition of shares at the stock exchange may only be made at a price within the price interval quoted at each time, i.e. the interval between the highest acquisition price and the lowest selling price. The purpose of the proposed authorization is to provide a cost effective so called hedge against the financial exposure, which the Company is encumbered with through the 1999 incentive program. Further, the Meeting resolved to transfer acquired shares in the Company as follows: Maximum 1,000,000 B shares, i.e. 4,000,000 shares, subsequent bonus issue and split, may be transferred. Preferential right to acquire the shares have those persons who are entitled to acquire shares under the 1999 incentive program and each option holder is entitled to acquire a maximum number of shares allowed under the terms of the option program. The option holder's preferential right to acquire shares shall be exercised during the period the option holder is entitled to acquire shares according to the program, i.e. from March 1, 2003, up to and including February 28, 2007. The option holder shall effect payment for the shares in accordance with the terms of the option program, i.e. within 10 days from the day the option holder has exercised his/her right to acquire shares. The option holder shall for each share pay a price corresponding to the last purchase price for an Ericsson B share quoted on the stock exchange on March 1, 2000, which was 851 SEK and 23 öre. According to the terms of the program, this price may be subject to re-calculation due to bonus issue, split, preferential issues and similar actions. The Meeting resolved that AB Aulis, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ericsson and holder of subordinated convertible debentures 1997/2003 in Ericsson of a total nominal amount of about 1.048 billion SEK, be entitled to also directly or indirectly dispose of the convertible debentures at the OM Stockholm Exchange. The Meeting resolved (with an overwhelming majority) not to grant A and B shares equal voting right. The following Directors of the Board were re-elected: Tom Hedelius, Göran Lindahl, Sverker Martin-Löf, Lars Ramqvist, Clas Reuterskiöld, Peter Sutherland and Marcus Wallenberg. Niall FitzGerald and Eckhard Pfeiffer were elected Directors of the Board. At the statutory meeting of the Board of Directors following the Annual General Meeting, Lars Ramqvist was re-elected Chairman. Tom Hedelius and Marcus Wallenberg were re-elected Vice Chairmen. Speeches held by Lars Ramqvist, Kurt Hellström, Sten Fornell can be found at http://www.ericsson.com/pressroom/ Ericsson is the leading provider in the new telecoms world, with communications solutions that combine telecom and datacom technologies with freedom of mobility for the user. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for its customers - network operators, service providers, enterprises and consumers - the world over. Please visit Ericsson's Press Room at: http://www.ericsson.se/pressroom FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Pia Gideon, Vice President, Corporate Communications Phone: +1 46 719 2864, +46 70 519 2864 E-mail: pia.gideon@lme.ericsson.se ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/31/20000331BIT01090/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/31/20000331BIT01090/bit0002.pdf