ABB to review European Commission’s decision in power transformer investigation

ABB confirmed today that the European Commission has announced its decision on alleged anti-competitive practices in the power transformer business. The European Commission imposed a fine of € 33.75 million on ABB. In December 2008, ABB announced that it had booked provisions relating to this and other compliance, tax, and restructuring matters. In connection with its third quarter reporting process, ABB will assess what impact this decision and any other recent developments will have on those provisions and on its financial results for the quarter. Upon receipt of the full decision, ABB will carefully review it and consider its options with a view to determining appropriate next steps. ABB is committed to fair and open competition in markets around the world. ABB companies and employees are not permitted to engage in any anti-competitive practices or other illegal or unethical behaviour. ABB has a zero tolerance policy to illegal or unethical behaviour. ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 120,000 people. Important notice about forward-looking information This press release includes forward-looking information and statements concerning the outlook for our business. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the factors that may affect our future performance, including global economic conditions, the economic conditions of the regions and industries that are major markets for ABB Ltd. These expectations, estimates and projections are generally identifiable by statements containing words such as “expects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “targets,” “plans” or similar expressions. However, there are many risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information and statements made in this press release and which could affect our ability to achieve any or all of our stated targets. The important factors that could cause such differences include, among others, business risks related to the financial crisis and economic slowdown, costs associated with compliance activities, the amount of revenues we are able to generate from backlog and orders received, raw materials prices, market acceptance of new products and services, changes in governmental regulations and currency exchange rates and such other factors as may be discussed from time to time in ABB Ltd’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Reports on Form 20-F. Although ABB Ltd believes that its expectations reflected in any such forward-looking statement are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that those expectations will be achieved.