Mandator acquires 40% of Internet company Pragma A/S

Mandator acquires 40% of Internet company Pragma A/S Today, Mandator signed an agreement of intent to acquire 40% of the shares of the Norwegian Internet company Pragma A/S. Mandator has an option to acquire a further 11% during 2001. The acquisition is part of the current venture-capital focus of Mandator Innovation. The acquisition is an investment in which Mandator and the Fædrelandsvennen AS media group jointly provide backup to the founders of Pragma. The initial ownership distribution is as follows: Mandator 40%, Fædrelandsvennen 34% and the founders 26%. "We are very pleased to have Mandator and Fædrelandsvennen behind us, as we are now able to take a major step forward in our business development. We believe there are opportunities to achieve exciting synergies between IT and media," says Tor Åge Fjukstad, senior vice president of Pragma. "To manage this successfully, we needed strong partners who possess the puzzle pieces we currently lack. Now, we are getting them!" "The Norwegian Sörlandet province has developed into a highly attractive market for our services. Mandator is already established in the area and the acquisition is bringing us further expertise and solutions for the Internet and interactive media," says Sverre Hurum, senior vice president of Mandator Norge A/S. "The Fædrelandsvennen media house is currently leading in Sörlandet. Our ownership stake in Pragma AS gives us access to expertise to strengthen our position in Internet and new media," says Lars Erik Torjussen, senior vice president of Fædrelandsvennen AS. For further information, please contact: Tor Åge Fjukstad, Senior Vice President, Pragma, +47 913 60 850 Sverre Hurum, Senior Vice President, Mandator Norge, +47 22 15 02 50 Bente Langerud Mortensen, Regional Manager, Mandator, +47 916 36 567 Lars Erik Torjussen, Senior Vice President, Fædrelandsvennen, +47 38 11 30 00 Pragma AS was formed in 1997 and currently has ten employees. The company develops and operates custom-designed solutions for the private and the public sector, including e-commerce solutions, interactive Web solutions and custom-designed IT solutions. Pragma's business concept is to use Internet technology to integrate existing IT systems. The company has several large customers in the Norwegian Sörlandet province. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/04/12/20000412BIT00720/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/04/12/20000412BIT00720/bit0002.pdf