ForeningsSparbanken Acquiring an Additional 5 per cent of FI-Holding


STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 5, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- ForeningsSparbanken (Swedbank) will acquire an additional 5 per cent of the shares in FI-Holding, thereby increasing its holding of the shares of that Danish credit institution from 69.7 per cent to 74.7 per cent.

The acquisition will be effected through the utilisation by Parnib Deelnemingen B.V., of an option to sell 50 per cent of its holding to ForeningsSparbanken. By contract, ForeningsSparbanken will pay DKK 372 million for 49,950 shares.

Finansinstitutet for Industri og Handvaerk (FIH), a wholly-owned FI-Holding subsidiary, is a leading figure in the Danish corporate market, with 5,000 medium and larger companies as customers, among them 116 of the country's 200 foremost industrial corporations.

For further information, please contact:


 Annika Wijkstrom, Executive Vice President and
  Head of Alliances Division
 phone: +46 8 585 913 97

 Staffan Salen, Executive Vice President and Head of Communications
 phone: +46 8 585 927 79, +46 705-310 111

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