Sweco strengthens positions in Russia

Sweco has acquired the remaining 50 per cent of the Russia consulting company Lenvodokanalproekt, with approximately 160 employees and offices in St. Petersburg Moscow and Saratov. The company is one of the leading providers of environmental consulting services in northwestern Russia.

“The acquisition of the remaining shares in Lenvodokanalproekt will further strengthen our position in this strongly expansive market. The need for improvements in the environmental and infrastructure areas remains urgent in Russia, where the market for consulting services related to water and environment is valued at more than EUR 160 million annually,” says Mats Wäppling, President and CEO of Sweco.

Sweco acquired the first 50 per cent of Lenvodokanalproekt in 2005. The company is specialised in water and environmental services, but also carries out assignments in the energy and infrastructure areas. Among other things, Lenvodokanalproekt is currently involved in two large-scale environmental projects in the city of Petrozavodsk in northwestern Russia.

Today Sweco has 1,000 consultants in Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and these operations have grown dramatically in recent years. Three years ago, Sweco had 100 employees in Central and Eastern Europe.

Aside from the activities conducted by the units in Central and Eastern Europe, Sweco’s Swedish operations conduct project exports to the region mainly in the water and environmental area. The first assignment in Russia was carried out already in 1903 in St. Petersburg.

As part payment for the acquisition, the Board of Directors of Sweco AB has decided, by virtue of authorisation granted by the AGM on 10 April 2008, to transfer 171 852 class B treasury shares to the Seller of the remaining 50 percent. The transfer is to be carried out by 15 June 2008 at the latest. The price per share shall be equal to the last price paid for the SWECO class B share on the OMX Nordic Stock Exchange Stockholm at the time of transfer.

Sweco’s holding of treasury shares prior to the transfer amounts to 979,719 class B shares and 150,000 class C shares, equal to approximately 1,3 per cent of all registered shares in the company. The total number of shares outstanding in Sweco is 86,414,350, divided among 9,389,075 class A shares, 76,875,275 class B shares and 150,000 class C shares.