First day of operations for OMHEX

First day of operations for OMHEX OMHEX today announces the first day of operations and the commencement of trading in the OMHEX share. Created through a merger between the Swedish company OM and the Finnish company HEX, the new company OMHEX is a leading provider of marketplace services and transaction technology, facilitating efficient securities transactions. "This is truly a historic day for the new OMHEX company and an important step in the creation of an integrated Nordic and Baltic market, a market that we will now further develop together with our customers and other marketplace entities," said Magnus Böcker, President and CEO of OMHEX "The larger scale of resources and customer-driven orientation of OMHEX will increase the company's competitiveness and will give it greater leverage and capacity to serve customers and form strategic partnerships with other leading international exchanges," said Jukka Ruuska, president HEX Integrated Markets and deputy CEO of OMHEX. OMHEX operations are based on two divisions; HEX Integrated Markets, northern Europe's largest securities market, offering access to approximately 80 per cent of the Nordic equity market, and OM Technology, a leading provider of transaction technology for the world's financial and energy markets. Jukka Ruuska will be the president of the HEX Integrated Markets division, and Kerstin Hessius will continue as president of Stockholmsbörsen with a dual role as deputy to Jukka Ruuska. The HEX Integrated Markets division has four business areas; Cash Markets headed by Jouni Torasvirta, Derivatives Markets headed by Simon Nathanson, Settlement & Depository headed by Heikki Sirve and Baltic Operations headed by Gert Tiivas. Klas Ståhl is the president of the OM Technology division, which consists of three business areas; Banks & Brokers where Klas Ståhl is also acting head, Financial Markets headed by Roland Tibell and Global Services headed by Carl-Magnus Hallberg. For a more detailed presentation of the new OMHEX management, please see www.omhex.com The creation of OMHEX is expected to provide benefits for issuers, members and investors through increased liquidity, efficient member access, a broader range of services and lower costs when connecting to the Nordic markets. The merger is also expected to create value for the companies' shareholders through annual cost savings of up to SEK 220 m pre-tax with full effect within three years, which is higher than the SEK 180 m announced in the prospectus. Costs for the transaction, restructuring, technology migration and redundancies are estimated at around SEK 430 m, which is also more than previously announced SEK 360 m. The acquired HEX shares are assessed an estimated balance sheet book value of SEK 2 300 m, with goodwill estimated at SEK 1 700 m. As of today the OMHEX share is listed on both Stockholmsbörsen and Helsinki Exchanges under the codename OMH on Stockholmsbörsen and OMH 1V on Helsinki Exchanges. Trading of the OMHEX share at Helsinki Exchanges starts for the first time when the market opens at 10.00 (local time). Note to editors: A ceremony to mark the first day of trading of the OMHEX share at the Helsinki Exchanges will be held in the Stock Exchange building at Fabianinkatu 14 at 10.00 (local time). Magnus Böcker, CEO and president of OMHEX and Jukka Ruuska, president HEX Integrated Markets and deputy CEO of OMHEX will participate. Media is invited to attend the ceremony, and to the subsequent press meeting with Magnus Böcker and Jukka Ruuska at the same location. For further information or comments, please contact: Magnus Böcker, CEO and President +46 8 405 66 44 Jukka Ruuska, President HEX Integrated Markets +358 9 6166 72 01 Anna Eriksson, VP Marketing & Communications +46 70 554 52 06 Anu Ilvonen, Communications Manager +358 50 376 0438 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/09/04/20030904BIT00080/wkr0001.pdf