Decisions made at the Annual General Meeting of Nordic Baltic Holding on 11 April 2000
Decisions made at the Annual General Meeting of Nordic Baltic Holding on 11 April 2000 Merger with Unidanmark was approved at the Annual General Meeting of Nordic Baltic Holding Merger with Unidanmark At today's Annual General Meeting of Nordic Baltic Holding, the Board of Director's decision on a new issue to Unidanmark's shareholders and thus also the merger with Unidanmark was approved. Dividends A decision was made at the Annual General Meeting to pay dividends amounting to SEK 1.75 per share. The record date for the dividends is Friday April 14, 2000. The dividends are expected to be paid on 19 April, 2000. Board members Jacob Palmstierna and Juha Niemelä resigned from their positions as Board members. The following board members were elected at the Annual General Meeting: Dan Andersson, Edward Andersson, Rune Brandinger and Mikko Kivimäki for one year, and Hans Dalborg, Bernt Magnusson, Timo Peltola and Vesa Vainio for two years. Conditional on the merger with Unidanmark, the Board of Directors shall have the following members instead: Dan Andersson, Edward Andersson, Rune Brandinger, Claus Høeg Madsen and Timo Peltola and a deputy member Thorleif Krarup for one year, and Hans Dalborg, Jørgen Høeg Pedersen, Bernt Magnusson and Vesa Vainio for two years. Mikko Kivimäki will then resign from his position as the Board member. Jörgen Høeg Pedersen is the Chairman of the Board, Claus Høeg Madsen is the Vice Chairman of the Board and Thorleif Krarup the President of Unidanmark A/S. Jørgen Høeg Pedersen is the Managing Director of Københavns Engros Grøntorv. Claus Høeg Madsen is a lawyer. Reduction of the share capital and the share premium reserve A decision was made at the Annual General Meeting to reduce the Company's share capital with SEK 2,091,067,728. The reduction shall be effected by reduction of nominal value of shares to SEK 3.50 and by making amendments to the articles of association accordingly. It was further decided that the Company's share premium reserve shall be reduced with SEK 8,417,126,504.50. The amount corresponding to the reduction shall be allocated to a reserve for purposes decided by a general meeting of shareholders. New issue With the decision made by the Board of Directors and approved by the Annual General Meeting, the share capital and the share premium reserve shall be increased through a new issue of shares targeted at the shareholders of Unidanmark, resulting in an increase of the Company's share capital with not more than SEK 3,136,592,249 by issuing not more than 896,169,214 new shares at a nominal value of SEK 3.50 per share. The Annual General Meeting authorized the Board of Directors, in case the new issue is not fully subscribed, to decide on a complementary new issue with the highest possible amount and the highest number of shares. Amendments to the articles of association Decisions were made at the Annual General Meeting on specific amendments to the articles of association concerning the merger with Unidanmark. The decisions on the reduction of the share capital and the share premium reserve, on approval of the new issue, and on amendments to the articles of association shall come into effect provided that the merger with Unidanmark is finalised. Acquisition of the Company's own shares The Board of Directors shall be authorized to, prior to the next Annual General Meeting, decide on acquisition of the Company's own shares on a Stock Exchange, or by means of an acquisition offer directed to all shareholders in the Company, so that the Company's holding of own shares may not at any time exceed ten percent of the total number of shares in the Company. Nordic Baltic Holding has currently no own shares. Acquisition of the Company's own shares on a Stock Exchange is possible only at the price falling within the current price range confirmed by the Stock Exchange, which means the range between the highest purchase price and the lowest selling price. Acquisition of shares for all shareholders in accordance with the proposed acquisition offer may take place only at the price not exceeding the price quoted on the Stock Exchange at the time of the offer added with 30 percent. The purpose of potential acquisition of shares is to return assets to the shareholders of the Company and thus improve the use of the assets. Euro as the accounting currency The Annual General Meeting decided that as of 1 January 2001 the Company shall have euro as its accounting currency, and the share capital and the nominal value of the shares shall be denominated in euro. The decision was amended to the articles of association. Further information: Björn Westberg, Investor Relations, +46 8 614 78 50 Tord Arnerup, Group Legal Management, +46 8 614 78 28 Kari Suominen, Group Legal Management, +358 9 165 42060 Lars Thalén, Group Identity and Communications, +46 70 920 06 65 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/04/11/20000411BIT01520/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/04/11/20000411BIT01520/bit0002.pdf