FORTUM AND CITY OF ESPOO REACH AGREEMENT ON E.ON FINLAND SHARES
The City Board of Espoo, Finland, and Fortum have today reached an agreement
according to which Fortum acquires all the 5,351,859 E.ON Finland Oyj shares
currently held by the City of Espoo. This corresponds to 34.2 % of the shares and
the voting rights of the company. The purchase price is EUR 68 per share, i.e.
approximately EUR 364 million in total.
The Espoo City Board will on 16 January 2006 propose to the Espoo City Council
the acceptance of the transaction according to its terms and conditions. The
intention is to sign the agreement on 17 January 2006 provided that it has been
approved by the City Council.
Another prerequisite for the transaction to take effect is that the 10,246,565
E.ON Finland shares currently held by E.ON Nordic have been transferred into the
ownership of Fortum. According to a contract made in 2002, Fortum has required
E.ON Nordic to sell and transfer those shares to Fortum in an arbitration
procedure. According to today´s agreement, the City of Espoo is committed to
further this end result.
When Fortum has acquired the shares in E.ON Finland owned by both the City of
Espoo and by E.ON Nordic, it will own a total of 99.8 % of E.ON Finland´s shares
at a total purchase price of approximately EUR 750 million.
"We are very pleased with this agreement, which will create a strong combination
of two companies in Espoo, complementing each other well. Together we will be
more competitive, to the benefit of both the City, its residents and Fortum",
says Mikael Lilius, President and CEO of Fortum.
According to Marketta Kokkonen, Mayor of Espoo, the City Board has evaluated the
different options of its ownership policy and concluded that selling their shares
in E.ON Finland to Fortum is in the best interest of the City at this stage. "It
is by no means necessary for the City to be part of the deregulated electricity
market", says Kokkonen.
The turnover of the E.ON Finland Group over the last twelve months (October 2004
- September 2005) was approximately EUR 232 million, EBITDA roughly EUR 72
million and operating profit about EUR 43 million. The company employs some 350
persons and has approximately 175,000 customers.
A press conference on the matter will be held tomorrow, 21 December 2005, at
10.30 a.m. at the City Council Hall, Espoonkatu 5.
Fortum Corporation City of Espoo
For more information:
Fortum:
Senior Vice President Tapio Kuula +358 50 452 4112
CFO Juha Laaksonen +358 50 452 4519
SVP, Corp Comm´s Carola Teir-Lehtinen +358 50 452 4118
City of Espoo:
Chairman of the City Board Jukka Mäkelä +358 400 505 339
Mayor Marketta Kokkonen +358 500 600 742
Treasurer Reijo Tuori +358 50 544 7642
Distribution:
Helsinki Stock Exchange
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