SEB and b-business partners invest in ASP company

SEB and b-business partners invest in ASP company: 12 millions to Frontville The venture capital company b-business partners - whose principal owners are Investor AB and ABB Ltd. - and SEB have today announced a follow-up investment in Frontville of SEK 12 million. Frontville offers an enterprise system for small businesses and accountancy firms in the form of its ASP solution (Application Service Provider). Frontville's solution enables accountancy firms and their customers to gain access to and work in the same enterprise system via the Internet. The main owners, b-business partners and SEB, have together invested SEK 42 million in the company. This follow-up investment will, among other things, facilitate the launch and continued development of Frontville's unique ASP service, which is directed towards accountancy firms. Frontville today has over 200 small businesses as customers. Since we provided our initial financing for Frontville, the company has developed well and demonstrated that the management can fulfil what it has promised. Frontville has a clear model for how to create additional value for its customers and in our assessment this is a company that has great prospects of succeeding well within its market, says Anders Grudén, MD, b-business partners. Frontville is very interesting for us as we are working towards the same target group and there are obvious synergies. Frontville's web- based enterprise system will gradually be integrated into the Internet services SEB provides for SMEs, and we will thereby be able to offer our customers great value added, explains Carl Sundvik, CEO, SEB e-Invest AB. Through Frontville's ASP solution, customers can gain access to a number of vital business services that are supplied via the Internet. The solution is developed as a module-based enterprise system, based on Axapta from Navision. Customers - small businesses and accountancy firms - only pay for the services they use and can in this way always have the appropriate capacity for their IT support without substantial investment. This new investment demonstrates that our owners share our view that Frontville has a solid business concept and will be one of the future winners in the rapidly expanding ASP market. Through supplementary financing we can continue to work the Swedish market. We are also very pleased with the cooperation with our owners. Campaigns are already now in progress with SEB, which have generated a large number of new customers. Frontville also benefits greatly by gaining access to the extensive network offered by the owner companies of b- business partners, continues Magnus Silfverberg, CEO, Frontville. For further information: Magnus Silfverberg, MD, Frontville: tel. 08 429 2660 (+46 8 429 2660) Anders Grudén, MD, b-business partners: tel. 08 451 5910 (+46 8 451 5910) Carl Sundvik, MD, SEB e-Invest AB: tel. 0708-71 84 80 (+46 708-71 84 80) Frontville (www.frontville.se) rents enterprise systems to accountancy firms and SMEs via the Internet. Cooperation and exchange of information between accountancy firms and their clients are simplified by Frontville's solutions. Frontville AB, which has its head office in Stockholm and 20 employees, was founded in January 2000. Today the company has over 200 customers. The largest owners are the venture capital company b-business partners, with Investor AB and ABB Ltd., as the principal owners, together with SEB's venture capital company e- Invest. b-business partners (www.b-bp.com) is a new kind of venture capital company, with offices in Amsterdam, Munich, London and Stockholm. The objective is to invest in and develop successful enterprises based on innovative business-to-business technologies, and thereby generate high financial yields. b-business partners is owned by eleven leading multi- national companies, including ABB, Investor AB and SEB, which work in a closely linked network for the exchange of information and experience concerning the enterprises in which b-business partners invests. The investment capital amounts to approximately E1 billion. SEB is a European bank - purchased by the German BfG Bank in 1999 - orientated towards e-banking, the savings market and Nordic international growth companies. SEB is one of the largest financial groups in Scandinavia, managing funds of SEK 930 billion. The group is represented in more than 20 countries and has approximately 20,000 employees. SEB is the third largest part owner of b-business partners and has invested SEK 415 million. Please visit www.seb.se, www.seb.net. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/30/20010330BIT00820/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/30/20010330BIT00820/bit0001.pdf