Swedish Match to strengthen its presence on the Italian tobacco market. Acquires distributor of tobacco products.

Swedish Match to strengthen its presence on the Italian tobacco market. Acquires distributor of tobacco products. Swedish Match has entered into an agreement to purchase the tobacco business of Maga s.p.a. one of the leading independent distributors of niche tobacco products (in this case cigars, pipe tobacco and accessories) in Italy with a turnover of appr. 35 MSEK. The acquisition allows Swedish Match to establish its own marketing and sales organization in the important Italian market. The transaction is expected to be completed in the beginning of September 2001. Swedish Match is an international group with its head office in Stockholm. The company manufactures a broad range of products within the OTP (Other Tobacco Products) category, with smokeless tobacco as its core business along with cigars and pipe tobacco, as well as matches and lighters. The products are sold in approximately 140 countries. Sales for the twelve months ending March 31, 2001 amounted to 12,208 MSEK. Swedish Match is listed on OM Stockholmsbörsen (SWMA) and on NASDAQ (SWMAY). For further information, please contact: Emmett Harrison, Vice President, Investor Relations office +46 8 658 01 73 mobile +46 70 938 01 73 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/07/16/20010716BIT00390/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/07/16/20010716BIT00390/bit0001.pdf