Divestment of Shares in Adcore


Swedish limited company Gladiolus, owned by current and former Adcore employees, has divested just over 40% of its shareholding in Adcore, corresponding to 2% of Adcore's share capital.

Gladiolus* was established by employees of Connecta ahead of its IPO and prior to Connecta's merger with Information Highway. The divestment of Gladiolus' holding has been planned for some time, as some of the owners have departed from Connecta since that period. Gladiolus has been subject to a lock-up since Connecta's IPO in September 1999, although divestment can now be effected. Handelsbanken has brokered 3 million Adcore shares at SEK 41 per share.

A majority of Gladiolus's 27 owners are currently employed within the Adcore group and will remain with the company. Three of the 27-Jan Maelum, Fredrik Palmgren and Johan Wieslander-are, and will remain, senior executives of Adcore. Fredrik Palmgren is Adcore's Global Strategy Manager, while Johan Wieslander heads up Adcore's international expansion. Jan Maelum heads up Adcore Stockholm.

Prior to the divestment, Gladiolus held 7,000,077 Adcore shares, corresponding to 4.9% of Adcore's share capital.

- Adcore's Ulf Kristersson commented: "Adcore is no longer a small business-we're now building a major European digital business consultancy. Enterprising entrepreneurs must also be entitled to sell shares and follow their company into a new phase."