After more than 50 years of cooperation and owner integration, the heirs of Fritz Lorck, one of Kolo Veidekke's founders, now wish to make use of their investments in other areas. This will have no practical effect - from either a technical or an operational point of view - on Kolo Veidekke's activities.

Veidekke will pay NOK 120 million for the 20 per cent minority holding, thus setting the value for the whole company at NOK 600 million.

"Considering how Kolo Veidekke has developed in recent years, this is a fair price to pay," says Veidekke's President and CEO Terje R. Venold. "The structural changes that have taken place in this field over the past years, along with the increasing volumes in the asphalt and gravel and crushed stone segments, give us good reason to be optimistic about a continuing positive trend," Mr. Venold adds.

Kolo Veidekke has on the whole been the most profitable private company in the asphalt industry. It currently has asphalt plants, stone quarries and a modern infrastructure that is one of the most efficient in the country.

"Over the past five years, we have invested substantial resources in improving productivity and reducing costs," says Kolo Veidekke's Managing Director Vidar Aarvold. "This has helped to increase profitability and also to make us far more competitive," he says.

"And this is reflected not least in the relatively high share of contracts we have won for the maintenance and operation of national and county roads since these contracts were put out for tender."

For further information, please contact:

Director of Finance Jørgen G. Michelet, Veidekke ASA,

phone + 47 21 05 77 22, mobile + 47 917 43 856

Managing Director Vidar Aarvold, Kolo Veidekke a.s,

phone + 47 21 05 76 41, mobile +47 905 53 383

Senior Vice President Communication Kai Krüger Henriksen,