b-business partners, Ericsson and SEB establish leading Nordic Commerce Exchange

b-business partners, Ericsson and SEB establish leading Nordic Commerce Exchange Stockholm, London: July 5, 2000 - b-business partners, Ericsson, and SEB are jointly launching a Nordic Commerce Exchange (NCE) with a Euro 15 million total initial investment. NCE is an open and independent online marketplace for buyers and sellers of non-production goods and services such as travel and consulting services, PC's and other office supplies. The marketplace of NCE will also provide financial and logistics services to support efficient end-to-end procurement transactions. The Exchange's aim is to significantly reduce transaction costs for both buyers and sellers of non-production goods. This will be accomplished through an improved information flow between buyers and sellers regarding demand for particular goods or services. It will enable buyers to find the right product or service at the right price and enable sellers to attract wider demand for their products and services. The founding partners intend to IPO the NCE within the next few years. They estimate the size of the Nordic market for non-production goods and services to be approximately Euro 240 billion. With approximately Euro 1 billion of capital, b-business partners is one of the largest B2B venture capital companies in Europe. It will leverage its experience in developing and building innovative B2B e-commerce companies to rapidly establish the exchange as the market leader. Additionally the company will draw upon its tightly linked network of established partner and portfolio companies to drive additional transaction volume on to the marketplace of NCE. "I believe the expertise and corporate networks of the three partners will position the NCE as the most credible trading platform for small and medium sized enterprises as well as multinationals. b-business partners is delighted to be a catalyst within this partnership and look forward to working alongside Ericsson and SEB," stated Börje Ekholm, chairman of b- business partners. Ericsson's main contributions apart from capital to the Nordic Commerce Exchange will be immediate buying liquidity and hands-on experience from e-procurement and catalogue management. Ericsson will also provide technical assistance on the implementation of the marketplace. "The Nordic Commerce Exchange will benefit from the latest advancements in Internet technology. Ericsson has worked alongside b-business partners and SEB to implement a marketplace that will increase the overall supply chain efficiency for both buyers and sellers," said Bo Westerberg, Vice President Corporate Sourcing, Ericsson. SEB contribute with capital and their customer base that includes 30,000 business customers from its e-banking facility. SEB were amongst the first financial institutions to invest in the B2B market, in line with their ambition to be leading in online financial services in Europe. "SEB is one of the leading financial institutions in the Nordic region. Now we wish to take part in building relationships with Nordic companies that are expanding via the Internet. We are assisting Nordic companies who want to find the best and most cost effective ways of using the Internet for their business. The Nordic Commerce Exchange is a fresh new concept that has the potential to become a huge success. As a preferred financial services partner, we will develop innovative products and services to NCE," said Lars Thunell, President of SEB. Hans Ahlinder has been appointed CEO of the NCE. "Our aim is to become the leading hub in business-to-business e-commerce in the Nordic countries. NCE is an industry-wide, independent initiative to lead the paradigm shift in B2B relationships. The promise to our customers and partners is to reduce transaction costs by 70 to 90%," says Hans Ahlinder. "The mix of the founding companies is ideal for making this initiative a true success. Ericsson, as a leading multinational enterprise and an early adopter of e-procurement systems, assures substantial transaction volumes by connecting to the exchange. Together with SEB as the leading financial institution in the Nordic region and b-business partners, a leading European VC company, we have the premier partners for this venture," continues Hans Ahlinder. -ENDS- For further details please contact Mads Madsen, Press Manager, Ericsson Corporate Communications Tel: +46 8 719 0626, E-mail: mads.madsen@lme.ericsson.se Bo Westerberg, Vice President Corporate Sourcing, Ericsson Tel: + 46 8 5853 4092, E-mail: bo.westerberg@lme.ericsson.se Hans Ahlinder, Chief Executive Officer, Nordic Commerce Exchange Tel: + 46 70 513 6579, E-mail: hans.ahlinder@amcs.se Carl Sundvik, Head of SEB e-invest, SEB Tel: + 46 8 763 9085, E-mail: carl.sundvik@seb.se Anders Grudén, Managing Director, b-business partners Tel: +46 7 0624 2139, E-mail: anders.gruden@b-bp.com Notes to Editors b-business partners b-business partners, (www.b-bp.com) with a capital base of @ 1 billion, was founded by Investor AB, ABB, SEB, AstraZeneca, Atlas Copco, Electrolux, Saab (aerospace), Sandvik, SKF, StoraEnso and WM-Data. b- business partners aims to foster new leaders in Europe's fast expanding B2B market and will build broader business relationships between both their partner and portfolio companies. The member companies in b-business partners gain both from their financial returns on investment as well as from collaboration on new Internet business applications. The company operates in major European cities. http://www.b-bp.com/ SEB After the purchase of the German BfG Bank, the SEB Group is a European bank, focused on the Internet, savings and the Nordic corporate market. SEB is also one of the largest Nordic financial groups, with SEK 810 billion in assets under management and more than SEK 1,000 billion (pro forma, including BfG) in total assets at the beginning of 2000. The vision of the Group is to become the leading bank for savings and investments in Europe and the leading corporate bank in the Nordic area and the Baltic states. SEB has started e-banking in Denmark this year and are planning to start e-banking in the UK and Germany later this year. http://www.seb.se/ / http://www.seb.net/ Ericsson Ericsson is the leading communications supplier, combining innovation in mobility and Internet in creating the new era of Mobile Internet. Ericsson provides total solutions covering everything from systems and applications to mobile phones and other communications tools. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for customers all over the world. Read more at http://www.ericsson.com/pressroom Hans Ahlinder Hans Ahlinder has an extensive industrial experience from various leading positions within Volvo, Pharmacia, Ericsson and most recently Gambro, where he headed the worldwide operations in Gambro Renal Products. While at Ericsson, Mr. Ahlinder held the position of Senior Vice President of Procurement for the Infocom Systems division. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/07/05/20000705BIT00040/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/07/05/20000705BIT00040/bit0002.pdf