SEB first to offer option fund under the Swedish Premium Pension Authority (PPM)

SEB first to offer option fund under the Swedish Premium Pension Authority (PPM) scheme On February 1, SEB will add the SEB Lux Equity Fund - Opportunity Europe to its range of funds offered under auspices of the Premium Pension Authority (PPM). The fund manager will be Jonas Romlin, who headed the successful SEB Optionsrätter Europafond (Warrants Europe Fund). "Many customers have inquired about a warrants fund in the PPM scheme, and now they have an opportunity to select one," says Jan Palmberg, Head of mutual funds, SEB Invest & Funds. The fund will mainly handle exchange-listed warrants in European companies, but it will also trade in shares. The fund can achieve a higher yield than a regular equity fund due to the gearing effect offered by warrants and options. This makes it a high-risk alternative, although this may be offset by investing in interest-bearing securities. This limits the gearing effect, for example in the event of substantial downturns in the market. "Opportunity Europe suits people who choose to invest part of their resources in a fund with a European focus, and who are prepared to take a greater risk. A high-risk fund should not represent more than 5-10% of total savings," says Jonas Romlin, who is manager of the SEB Lux Equity Fund - Opportunity Europe. The Opportunity Europe fund is registered in Luxembourg, which makes it possible to reinvest dividends directly in the fund. The SEB Lux Equity Fund - Opportunity Europe is the 20th SEB PPM mutual fund. The PPM code is 846 949. SEB is a financial group focused on e-banking, savings and growth companies. SEB is one of the largest financial groups in Scandinavia, with SEK 942 billion in funds under management and total assets of SEK 1 108 billion (30 September 2000). The Group has approximately 20,000 employees and is represented in some 20 countries around the world. SEB has today approximately 630 retail and private banking branches, mainly in Sweden, Germany and the Baltic region and 850,000 e-banking customers in six countries. SEB started recently an online brokerage service, SEBdirect, in Germany and will start e-banking in England and in Norway this year. Read more about SEB: www.seb.net For further information, please contact: Jonas Romlin, Manager, SEB Invest & Fonder, +46-8-506 246 10 Anna Selberg, Information Manager, Investment Management & Life, +46 8 785 1146, +46 70 763 8154 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/01/20010201BIT00250/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/01/20010201BIT00250/bit0002.pdf