NONG: Successful private placement of NOK 133.7 million in new equity certificates

SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge is pleased to announce the successful completion of a private placement of 3,509,281 equity certificates directed towards Sparebankstiftelsen SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge and a small group of large new institutional investors in Norway and abroad.

The private placement of NOK 133.7 million is part of the bank's announced private placement with gross proceeds of up to NOK 150 million, of which the already completed employee offering constitute NOK 16.3 million. The result of the employee offering was announced in conjunction with the final result of the completed rights issue on 1 June 2011. The capital increase in relation to the employee offering and the completed private placement will be registered jointly, in accordance with the timetable outlined below.

The private placement, including the employee offering, represents an equity capital increase of nearly 6.6 percent. The offer price in the private placement was set at market terms based upon the volume weighted average price of SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge's equity certificates on 20 June 2011, which was NOK 38.096 per equity certificate.

The private placement has been carried out in accordance with the authorization given to the Main Board of Directors of SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge by the Supervisory Board of SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge on the 30 March 2011.

Following the completion and registration of the private placement, including the employee offering, SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge's equity capital will amount to NOK 1,654,419,025, consisting of 66,176,761 equity certificates, each with a nominal value of NOK 25.0. The new equity certificates may not be transferred or traded until they have been paid for in full and the increase of capital has been registered with the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises. Registration is expected to take place on or about 28 June 2011. The new equity certificates will be transferred to the VPS accounts of each individual subscriber on or about 29 June 2011 and will be tradable on Oslo Børs on the same day.

Arctic Securities, Argo Securities and SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge Markets acted as managers for the private placement.

Tromsø, 21 June 2011

Contact persons at SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge:

CEO:  Hans Olav Karde:                        +47 901 51 981
Deputy CEO:  Oddmund Åsen:              +47 906 72 757
CFO:  Rolf Eigil Bygdnes:                      +47 905 19 774

About SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge:
SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge is a leading provider of financial products and services within the retail banking and corporate banking markets and public sector throughout the region. The Bank has a total customer base of around 244,000 retail banking customers, around 36,500 corporate customers, including public sector agencies, clubs and associations, and around 101,000 insurance customers. The Bank has 74 branch offices in Finnmark, Troms, Nordland and Svalbard.

In September 2010, SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge established banking operations in Russia through North-West 1 Alliance Bank.  SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge holds a 75 per cent ownership interest in the bank, while the remaining 25 per cent of the shares is owned by SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge's Russian partner Bank Tavrichesky in St. Petersburg.  The new bank is headquartered in St. Petersburg and has a branch office in Murmansk

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.