STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 12, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Board of Directors of SAS AB has, on April 11, 2002, decided to issue 2,683,604 new shares in SAS AB. The number of new shares issued is equal to the number of shares that have been or are subject to compulsory redemption in the formerly listed companies SAS Danmark A/S, SAS Norge ASA, and SAS Sverige AB.
This share issue will increase the number of outstanding shares in SAS AB and change the relative ownership between private shareholders and the Scandinavian Governments to the same situation that prevailed for the SAS Group before the introduction of the single share.
After completion of the share issue, the shareholders equity in SAS AB will amount to SEK 1,645 million, and the total number of outstanding shares will amount to 164,500,000 shares. The Board decision was made in accordance with the authority, which was given to the Board of Directors at the extraordinary general meeting of SAS AB on May 8, 2001 in connection with the introduction of the single SAS share, which is described in more detail in the prospectus published in May 2001. The SAS' shareholders' preferential rights in connection with the share issue have been waived in order to avoid the Danish, Norwegian, and the Swedish state holdings in SAS AB going above 50 per cent of the total number of outstanding shares and votes in SAS AB.
The new shares have all been issued to UBS Warburg, which have placed the shares to a limited number of international institutional investors.
The price of the new issue is 74 SEK per share, which means that SAS AB through the share issue will obtain a total of approximately SEK 200 million. The issue will be payable to SAS AB on or about April 17, 2002.
This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net