Isaberg Rapid forms joint venture with Chinese market leader

PRESS RELEASE Isaberg Rapid AB Isaberg Rapid forms joint venture with Chinese market leader Isaberg Rapid AB and Shanghai Stationery & Sports Goods Corporation in Shanghai have formed a joint venture for the manufacture of primarily office staplers and staples. The agreement was signed on May 14 in the presence of Swedish Minister of Industry and Commerce Anders Sundström and the mayor of Shanghai. The company's name will be Shanghai Rapid Yuan Chang Stationery Company Limited. Operations will commence on October 1, 1998. Isaberg Rapid will own 51% of the company's stock. The joint-venture company will take over industrial premises in Shanghai and equipment from Shanghai Stationery & Sports Goods Corporation, China's market leader in staplers and staples. The company currently exports about 25% of production and has annual sales of approximately SEK 60 M. Isaberg Rapid will provide equipment, tools and know-how to develop the joint- venture company. In addition, Isaberg Rapid will handle sales for the joint venture. For Isaberg Rapid the cooperation will lead to major opportunities in China to sell products from the company's plants in Sweden and France. The formation of the joint-venture company will improve Isaberg Rapid's competitiveness in all markets and further strengthen its position as a manufacturer of world-class staplers, stapling pliers and staples. Hestra, Sweden, September 30, 1998 Isaberg Rapid AB For further information, please contact: Pelle Holm, President of Isaberg Rapid AB, tel. +46 370 33 95 00 Isaberg Rapid produces staplers and narrow-gauge staplers for the office and tool markets. The company is the largest in Europe in its product area. Invoiced sales in 1997 totaled SEK 479 M, with SEK 56 M in earnings. Isaberg Rapid is a wholly owned subsidiary of the listed industrial holding company Industrivärden and is part of its industrial group, Inductus. Industrivärden consists of a portfolio of listed stocks and a wholly owned industrial and trading operation. The company's business mission is to invest in a limited number of stocks and to create value in the portfolio companies through active ownership. Major listed holdings are Ericsson, Handelsbanken, Sandvik, AGA, SCA, Skanska, Skandia, PLM and SSAB. The industrial operation, Inductus, consists of the manufacturing companies Besam, Isaberg Rapid, Maskin AB Rapid and Hydrauto. The trading company, Indutrade, includes some thirty companies engaged in the import and sale of industrial components.