As a part of the financing of Storebrand's acquisition of SPP, Storebrand entered into a bridge facility on 3 September 2007 with a syndicate of banks led by JPMorgan and UBS lasting until 1 September 2008. EUR 470 million is currently outstanding under the facility. The bridge loan has now been extended by three months, with a further option to extend another three months until 2 March 2009. Storebrand is working according to plan to replace the bridge financing with debt of longer maturity and higher quality as previously communicated to the market in connection with the acquisition.

 

The cost related to the current bridge loan is 0.65 percentage points per annum above floating interest rate. The cost will increase by 0.2 percentage points per annum from September as a result of the extension

 

Oslo 23 April 2008

 

For further information contact:

Egil Thompson, Director of Corporate Communications.