Ratos sells its holding in Meto

Ratos sells its holding in Meto - capital gain SEK 217M Today, Checkpoint Systems, Inc. announced its intention to fulfill its public offer for Meto. Following this Ratos, who holds 13 per cent of Meto, will report a capital gain of SEK 217M. Meto, a former division within the Esselte Group, was listed in June 1999. In August Checkpoint made its offer which represented SEK 65 per share. The bid premium thus amounted to approximately 63 per cent. Ratos is in the the process of realising its new strategy which was launched in December 1998. During the forthcoming years, Ratos assets - today in excess of SEK8 bn - will be invested in a limited number of non- listed companies. Ratos will thereby relinquish its earlier position as a traditional investment company and instead become a Public Private Equity firm. Among Ratos non-listed holdings are Superfos, Dahl, ACE and Telia Overseas. Listed associated companies are Scandic Hotels, Telelogic, Esselte and Capona. For further information www.ratos.se www.checkpointsystems.com www.meto.com Anna-Karin Eliasson Investor Relations, Ratos + 46 70 399 62 39 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/12/09/19991209BIT00780/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/12/09/19991209BIT00780/bit0002.pdf