Sandvik participating in major e-business venture

Sandvik participating in major e-business venture The Sandvik Group is one of the partowners in b-business partners, the new venture-capital company for e-commerce that was announced today in Sweden. The new company, which will be one of the largest in Europe of its kind, will invest and actively participate in the growing area of e-business between companies. In addition to the main interests, ABB and Investor, the owners include a number of large Swedish engineering companies. Sandvik is a leader in the application of advanced information technology for product development, production, logistics and marketing of goods and services. Electronic transactions and sales over the Internet account for an increasingly larger portion of the Group's business. "In addition to being a sound financial investment, our involvement in b- business partners is a new step in our continued investment in the IT area. It also opens new attractive opportunities for expansion on our own, jointly with the other owners and particularly in business relations with the new IT companies," says Lars Pettersson, Executive Vice President of Sandvik AB. Sandviken, 27 March 2000 Sandvik AB; (publ) For further information, contact Lars Pettersson, +46 26 26 40 56. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/27/20000327BIT00390/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/27/20000327BIT00390/bit0002.pdf