STOCKHOLM, Sweden, August 01, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Skandia (Other OTC:SKNFF) (LSE:SDIAq):
On 31 July 2003, Senior Judge Milton Pollack of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a decision and order in Donovan v. American Skandia Life Assurance Corp. et al. dismissing the entire case with prejudice. As previously disclosed, liability for the outcome of this case was for the account of Skandia Insurance Company Ltd. as a result of the agreement with Prudential Financial, Inc. concerning the sale of American Skandia.
The lawsuit purported to represent a class of investors who during the period December 1997 to October 2000 purchased American Skandia variable annuity products for the purpose of funding a "qualified" (i.e., tax- deferred) retirement account. The Plaintiffs alleged that the prospectuses for these variable annuity products contained material misstatements and omissions concerning the suitability of such products as funding vehicles for tax qualified accounts in violation of U.S. securities laws.
Judge Pollack concluded that the plaintiff's claims were without legal merit. In dismissing the plaintiffs' claims, Judge Pollack wrote that, "the disclosures in the Prospectuses, taken in context, conclusively disprove the materiality of the alleged omissions and are thus fatal to the Plaintiffs' claims."
Once the judgment has been entered by the court, plaintiffs will have thirty calendar days to appeal the decision.
"Judge Pollack's conclusions are in agreement with Skandia's previously stated belief that the claims raised by the lawsuit were without merit." comments Jan-Mikael Bexhed, Skandia's General Counsel.
For further information, please contact: Jan-Mikael Bexhed, EVP and General Counsel, phone +46-8-788 37 22 Harry Vos, Head of Investor Relations, phone +46 8 788 3643
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The following files are available for download:
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/08/01/20030801BIT00030/wkr0001.doc
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/08/01/20030801BIT00030/wkr0002.pdf