Skandia Life Makes Cash Offer of SEK 90 Per Share for Diligentia

Skandia Life Makes Cash Offer of SEK 90 Per Share for Diligentia Skandia Life Insurance Company Ltd today decided to make a public offer to the shareholders of the real estate company Diligentia AB. * The bid entails a cash offer of SEK 90 for each share in Diligentia AB. No brokerage fee will be charged. * The offer represents a premium of 27 per cent, based on the average last price paid for Diligentia shares five trading days preceeding the offer. * Based on the average last price paid five trading days preceeding Castellum's bid for Diligentia, the offer represents a premium of 35 per cent. * Skandia Life today owns 6.7 per cent of the shares in Diligentia. Skandia Life's Motive for the Deal Skandia Life seeks to achieve high long-term return from its investment portfolio, with a balanced measure of risk. In order to achieve a stable return, real estate is an important element in Skandia Life's investment strategy. Skandia Life's total investments today amount to approximately SEK 250 billion, of which real estate accounts for SEK 23 billion, or 9 per cent, which is less than the real estate allocation in Skandia Life's target portfolio. Against this background, Skandia Life is now interested in increasing its holdings of real estate. An acquisition of Diligentia would give Skandia Life the opportunity to complement its current real estate holdings with a sizeable real estate portfolio. Diligentia's properties fit well into Skandia Life's current real estate portfolio, in terms of use as well as geographical location. The acquisition would create a concentrated real estate portfolio with cost- effective management units and strong market positions. The combined real estate portfolio would also form a base for future structural deals. Effective 1 January 2000, Skandia Life's real estate management has been transferred to the partly owned company JonesLangLaSalle Asset Management Services AB. This organization is under development and could be complemented by Diligentia's. The Offer from Castellum On 18 January 2000, Castellum directed an offer to Diligentia's shareholders, entailing that they would receive one newly issued share in Castellum for each share held in Diligentia. Castellum's offer contains certain conditions. Shareholders who have already accepted Castellum's offer can recall their acceptance in writing through 27 March 2000, under the condition that Castellum has not prior to this date announced that the offer has been completed. Skandia Life's Offer The offer, made through a wholly owned subsidiary of Skandia Life, entails that Diligentia's shareholders would receive SEK 90 in cash, including the dividend for 1999, for each share held in Diligentia. If settlement under the offer is made after the record date for the dividend, the cash amount paid per share will be reduced by the received dividend. No brokerage fee will be charged. The Offer's Value Based on the last price paid for Diligentia shares on 17 March 2000, SEK 73, the offer entails a premium of 23 per cent. Based on the average last price paid during the five days preceding the offer, the bid represents a premium of 27 per cent. Based on the average last price paid during the three months preceding the announcement of the offer, the bid corresponds to a premium of 23 per cent. Based on the average last price paid during the five days preceding Castellum's bid for Diligentia, the offer represents a premium of 35 per cent. The total value of the offer is SEK 5.6 billion. Conditions for Implementation of the Deal Skandia Life's offer is conditional upon the following: - that the offer is accepted to such extent that Skandia Life will become the owner of more than 90 per cent of the total number of shares and votes in Diligentia. However, Skandia Life reserves the right to complete the offer even with a lower acceptance. - that the acquisition, prior to announcement that the offer has been completed - in Skandia Life's judgement - is not hindered or complicated by legislation, judicial ruling, decision by public authority, or other circumstances outside of Skandia Life's control. Preliminary Timetable Publication of prospectus: 15 April 2000 Acceptance period: 17 April 2000 -10 May 2000 Cash settlement expected to begin around: 30 May 2000 Skandia Life reserves the right to extend the acceptance period and thereby push back the settlement date. Handelsbanken Investment Banking and Leimdörfer Bernhardtson Westberg & Partners AB are serving as advisers to Skandia Life in connection with the offer to Diligentia's shareholders. This offer is not being made to persons whose participation would require an additional prospectus, registration or measures other than those required under Swedish law. Thus, this press release does not constitute an offer, directly or indirectly, in United States of America, Canada, Australia or Japan. This press release may not be distributed to any country where the distribution or the offer would require an additional prospectus, registration or measures other than those required under Swedish law or to any country where the press release or the offer would be unauthorized or unlawful. For further information, please contact: Ulf Spång, Chief Financial Officer, Skandia tel. +46-8-788 29 05 Håkan Lennersand, Head of Real Estate, Skandia tel. +46-8-788 33 06 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/20/20000320BIT00120/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/20/20000320BIT00120/bit0002.pdf