MeritaNordbanken offer to acquire all shares in Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse renewed at NOK 44 per share

MeritaNordbanken offer to acquire all shares in Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse renewed at NOK 44 per share MeritaNordbanken Plc renews the offer to acquire all shares of Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse ASA. The offer price is increased to NOK 44 per share. The offer period ends on 31 August 2000. When the new offer is completed, shareholders who accepted the first offer will be entitled to interest of 6 per cent per year from the date of their acceptance, provided they accept the new offer by 30 June 2000. Accrued interest for a share accepted on the first day of the first offer would now amount to approximately NOK 2. The price of the new offer reflects the potential of a combination today of Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse and the new group of MeritaNordbanken and Unidanmark and provides a fair level for the renewal of acceptances. The Stortinget has decided that state owned shares in Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse shall be sold. However, the first offer by MeritaNordbanken to acquire all shares in Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse is due to elapse by the end of June based on the original offer document thus depriving share- holders who accepted the offer of interest compensation upon completion. In order to protect the interests of these shareholders, Nordic Baltic Holding (NBH) AB (publ) and its wholly owned subsidiary MeritaNordbanken Plc have renewed the first offer taking into account the guidelines of the Stortinget. By handing in the acceptance form of the new offer before 30 June 2000, shareholders who accepted the first offer will maintain their right from that offer to receive interest upon completion of 6 per cent per annum from the date of the original acceptance up to the date of acceptance of the new offer. All shareholders who accept the new offer will receive in- terest of 6 per cent per annum from the date acceptances are received through to completion. In a comment, Hans Dalborg, CEO of Nordic Baltic Holding, said: - This renewal of the MeritaNordbanken offer to the shareholders of Chris- tiania Bank og Kreditkasse is a confirmation of our ambition to see Chris- tiania Bank as an important part of the leading Nordic financial services group and to protect the interests of the shareholders who have accepted our first offer. - It is our intention that Christiania Bank should grow in our group and expand the supply of financial services in Norway. We want to develop im- portant Norwegian financial special competencies further to the benefit of customers of the new group in all markets where we operate. The new offer is valid from 20 June 2000 and the acceptance period will run from this date to 17.00 Oslo time 31 August 2000. The completion of the offer is subject to acceptances of 90 per cent of the shares, necessary permissions by Norwegian and other authorities, re- quired Board approval by Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse to transfer shares, a due diligence process and ordinary course of business. The ap- plication for permissions from the Norwegian and other authorities to ac- quire the shares will be filed at the latest on 31 December 2000. Merita- Nordbanken reserves the right to waive certain conditions and to prolong the offer. The offer is subject to the full terms and conditions set out in the offer document. The offer document in Norwegian and English containing all rele- vant information will be published today on www.nordicbalticholding.com and should be received by shareholders later this week together with an acceptance form. The making of the offer to residents or citizens of certain jurisdictions (Foreign Shareholders) may be restricted by the laws of the relevant ju- risdictions. Foreign Shareholders should inform themselves about and ob- serve any such applicable legal requirements in their respective jurisdic- tions. Further information: Markku Pohjola, Executive Vice President, + 358 9 165 42 245 Lars Thalén, Senior Vice President, + 46 709 200 665 Not for distribution in Australia, Japan or Canada ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/06/19/20000619BIT00100/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/06/19/20000619BIT00100/bit0002.pdf