LESSEBO, Sweden, April 26, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- At Klippan's annual general meeting, Jan Bernander, Bertil Bernadotte, Ulf Ek, Bjorn Gillberg, Tommy Kullberg, Stefan Lersten, Lennart Laftman and Kjell Svensson were re-elected as members of the Board. Gunnar Bergstrand, Alan Walker and Bengt Ostensson were re-elected as deputy members.
The employee organizations have appointed Ulf Pettersson and Tuve Svensson as ordinary members and Ulf Magnusson and Johan Pettersson as deputy members.
Jan Bernander, Lars-Ake Helgesson and Goran Sundstrom were elected as members of the nomination committee.
Dividend
A dividend of SEK 1 per share to be paid to the shareholders for the accounting year 2001 was decided. The record day for dividends will be Tuesday, 30 April 2002. Payment via VPC AB is expected to be effected on Mondy, 6 May 2002.
New share issue
As part of the financing of the acquisition of Stora Enso Molndal AB, the annual general meeting decided on a new share issue for Klippan AB as follows.
It was decided to increase the company's share capital by at most SEK 10,333,330 to at most SEK 41,333,330 through a new share issue of at most 2,066,666 shares, each at a nominal SEK 5.
The following shall apply for the subscription to the new shares:
1. Priority right; subscription right; reconciliation day The current shareholders shall have priority right to subscribe to the new shares, whereby a holding of three (3) current shares shall entitle the holder to subscribe to one (1) new share.
Shares not subscribed to with priority right as per the foregoing may be subscribed to by the shareholders and by other Swedish and foreign persons, companies and institutional investors.
The reconciliation day for the right to participate in the issue with priority right shall be 5 June 2002.
2. Subscription period The shareholders are permitted to exercise their priority right by payment of the issue balance during the period from 10 June 2002 to 28 June 2002 inclusive, meaning that subscription is effected through payment.
Subscription to shares without priority right may be done during the same period as above, i e from 10 June 2002 to 28 June 2002 inclusive on a special subscription list. The Board shall determine the allotment of shares subscribed to without priority right within the framework of the maximum amount for the issue.
3. Issue price and payment period For each share of a nominal SEK five (5), an issue price of SEK twenty (20) shall be paid. The premium shall be added to the premium reserve.
Shares subscribed to without priority right shall be paid for at the latest on the fourth banking day after notification of the allotment of such shares.
4. Right to dividend The new shares entail a right to dividend as from for the accounting year 2002. 5. Over- or undershooting number of subscription rights It is noted that one shareholder has notified the company that he will not be exercising the subscription right that follows upon two existing shares, meaning that the number of subscription rights divides equally into the maximum number of shares possible to issue. 6. Authorization The company's President, or the person appointed by him, is authorized to carry out any minor adjustments to this decision required for registration with the Swedish Patent and Registration Office.
Acquisition of own shares
The annual general meeting decided to authorize the Board to make a decision to acquire own shares before the next annual general meeting to a number of at most 10 percent of outstanding shares. The acquisition shall be made via the Stockholm stock exchange. The aim of the repurchase is to give the board increased scope for action in its work of creating value for the company's shareholders.
The President's speech to the annual general meeting
In his speech to the annual general meeting, the President Bengt Ostensson dwelt mainly on the opportunities offered in conjunction with the acquisition of Stora Enso Molndal. The speech is attached in its entirety.
Lessebo 25 April 2002 KLIPPAN AB
Bengt Ostensson President
For further information, please contact: President, Bengt Ostensson, tel +46(0)771-11 00 00 or mobile +46(0)70 595 86 27.
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www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/04/26/20020426BIT00400/wkr0001.doc www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/04/26/20020426BIT00400/wkr0002.pdf