Yet another senior member of the Swedish construction and property development industry has decided to ally himself with Veidekke and its activities. Mats Mared, former executive vice president of Skanska and, for many years, the Managing Director of the property development company Drott, has now accepted the position of Chairman of the Board of Veidekke Entreprenad AB. This is happening only a few months after the former Managing Director of the property development company Nordisk Renting, Göte Dahlin of Stockholm, took over as Chairman of the Board of Veidekke Group.

"We are very pleased to have Mats Mared in our ranks," says Veidekke's President & CEO Terje R. Venold.

"After the first six months of 2004, we have now registered a positive development of Veidekke's total activities in Sweden, and I feel confident that Mr. Mared and the other members of the Swedish management team will further bolster this development," Venold says. "Our operations in Sweden have a long-term perspective, and we have already achieved the position of the country's fifth largest contractor and property developer. But we must move on, and we are therefore dependent on skilled local managers who know the market, and Mats Mared has that knowledgde," he adds.

Mats Mared holds an MSc in civil engineering from the Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH). He was employed with Skanska until 1998. He has wide experience from all parts of construction business and extensive management experience. In the period 1989 - 1993 Mats Mared was Managing Director of Skanska Syd in Malmö, and Executive Vice President of the Skanska Group in the period 1994 - 1998. In 1998 he was appointed Managing Director of Drott, one of Sweden's leading property development companies, a position he held until the 2003 Annual General Meeting.

"I admit that Veidekke was not in my original plans, but now that I have come to know the company, I am looking forward to take part in the further development of Veidekke," says Mats Mared. "Since I have been working for so many years with construction and property development, I think it will be exciting to use my experience in a company that is not quite like the other players in the industry. Veidekke separates itself by its focus on cooperation and involvement, internally as well as externally, and its goal-oriented work within health, safety and environment reported all the way up to the company's Board. Having always delivered positive results is certainly another factor which makes this particular company interesting," Mared adds.

With an annual turnover of approximately NOK 12 billion and 5,500 employees in Scandinavia, Veidekke is Norway's leading construction and property development company and the fourth largest in Scandinavia. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Its ownership structure is broad, but consists mainly of institutional owners. A special thing for Veidekke is its employees' large ownership share. In Sweden, Veidekke's operations include construction and property development in Stockholm, in the district surrounding the lake Mälaren, in Gothenburg and in Skåne. In 2004, the company has 700 employees in Sweden and is expecting a total turnover of approximately 1.5 billion SEK.

For further information, please contact:

President & CEO Terje R. Venold,

Veidekke ASA, phone + 47 21 05 77 01

Chairman of the Board Mats Mared,

Veidekke Entreprenad AB, mobile phone + 46 735 35 3213