HELSINKI, Finland, April 9, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- The review process by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of Metso Corporation's (NYSE:MX) application for clearance of its offer for Svedala Industri AB continues to progress. During the process, Metso has come to the understanding that in order to obtain clearance from FTC, Metso is expected to divest its grinding mills business in addition to the businesses included in the remedy package agreed with the EU Commission. Metso estimates that the sale process of the required divestitures and the remaining FTC review process will take approximately two months. As a result, Metso has decided to extend the acceptance period for its offer to June 1, 2001, and may decide on a further extension of the acceptance period should it be required.
The sale process for the remedy package agreed with the EU Commission in January is well underway and Metso is continuing discussions with a shortlist of preferred bidders. Metso has now also initiated a sale process for its grinding mills business, which has annual net sales of approximately EUR 20 - 30 million. Total annual net sales of these businesses combined amount to EUR 160 - 170 million, corresponding approximately 7 - 8 per cent of the combined net sales of Metso Minerals and Svedala.
Metso remains committed to its conditional offer of June 21, 2000. With the exception of the extension of the acceptance period, the terms of the offer by Metso to the shareholders in Svedala Industri AB, announced on June 21, 2000, are unchanged (offer document dated July 7, 2000).
Metso Corporation is a global supplier of process industry machinery and systems. Metso's core businesses are divided between Metso Paper (fiber and paper technology), Metso Minerals (rock and mineral processing) and Metso Automation (automation and control technology). In 2000, the net sales of Metso Corporation were EUR 3.9 billion, and the personnel totaled approximately 22,000. Metso Corporation is listed on the Helsinki and New York Stock Exchanges.