Shareholders of Danish FIH accept Swedbank€s (FöreningsSparbanken) offer through FI-Holding

Shareholders of Danish FIH accept Swedbank's (FöreningsSparbanken) offer through FI-Holding Shareholders representing 96.6 percent of the share capital of the Danish bank FIH (FinansieringsInstituttet for Industri og Håndvaerk A/S) had accepted FI- Holding's offer to acquire their shares as of yesterday, when the offer expired. The offer was issued on September 13 by FI-Holding A/S, whose principal owner is Swedbank (FöreningsSparbanken). FI-Holding was established as a Danish holding company for FIH. Following the acquisition of FIH, Swedbank will own nearly 60 percent of FI-Holding. The remainder, slightly over 40 percent, will be owned by Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening (the Danish Employers' Confederation), Dansk Industri (the Confederation of Danish Industry), Lönmodtagernes Dyrtidsfond (wage- earner fund), Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension (national supplementary pension fund) and De Nationale Investeringsbank of the Netherlands, currently shareholders of FIH. "It is gratifying that our offer has been positively received and has now been accepted by such a qualified majority of FIH's shareholders," says Göran Ahlström, President and CEO of Swedbank. "The acquisition of FIH is another important step in our 'Nordicum' strategy, where we are utilizing alliances and various degrees of ownership to develop and strengthen our mutual presence in the Nordic and Baltic region. FIH has a strong position in its market, and I am convinced that our future cooperation will offer good development opportunities in Denmark as well as for the Nordicum cooperation as a whole." Because more than 90 percent of the shareholders have now accepted FI- Holding's offer, all that essentially remains for its implementation is the approval of the EU's competition authorities. The Danish and Swedish financial supervisory authorities have already given their approval. For further information, please contact: Lars Johansen, President and CEO, FIH, phone +45 38 16 68 00 Göran Ahlström, President and CEO, Swedbank, phone +46 8 585 928 98 Einar Frydén, Information Manager, Swedbank, phone +46 8 585 916 30, +46 705 11 00 33. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/12/19991012BIT00110/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/12/19991012BIT00110/bit0002.pdf