STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 24, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- The following decisions have been made at Fastighets AB Tornet's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders:
Dividend and record day
Dividend is to be paid at SEK 4.50 per share for the financial year 2002. The record day is Tuesday, 29 April 2003. Dividend is expected to be paid by VPC on Monday, May 5, 2003.
The Board of Directors and the auditors
The board shall consist of seven ordinary members. The total board fee is to amount to SEK 1,100,000 to be distributed in accordance with the decision of the board. Auditors' fees are to be paid according to the usual charging norms.
Goran Ahlstrom, Goran Collert, Katja Elvang, Lars Gardo, Lars Hansson, Sverker Lerheden and Karl-Evert Oskarsson were re-elected as board members.
Ohrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers AB and Deloitte & Touche AB were appointed as public accounting firms, both for the period until the end of the annual general meeting of shareholders in 2007.
Amendments to the articles of association
The articles of association were amended in order to enable appointment of a registered public accounting firm as well as an authorised public accountant as auditor.
Repurchase of Tornet's shares
The board has been authorised, during the period until the next Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, provided that the board deems it appropriate, to make a decision on one or more occasions on acquisition of Tornet's shares, with the right for the board to make a decision to acquire as many shares as correspond to a tenth of the total number of shares of the company. If such repurchase is made, it shall take place through Stockholmsborsen. Acquisition shall take place at a price per share within the price interval registered on the stock exchange at the time of acquisition.
The board's mandate also includes the power to transfer repurchased shares, with or without a deviation from the preferential right of shareholders, as payment in connection with acquisition of a business or to finance acquisition of a business or to cancel these shares. In the event of transfer of repurchased shares, the reason for the departure from the preferential right is that the company can, in the event of such transfers, obtain more favourable terms than could otherwise have been obtained. The board shall be able to decide on a set-off or to attach other conditions to the transfer. It shall be possible to transfer shares for non-monetary compensation. In the event of cancellation of repurchased shares, the board shall make a proposal to a shareholders' meeting on reduction by cancellation. The intention of any acquisitions made shall be to achieve added value for the shareholders.
Appointment of nominations committee
The proposal from the Swedish Association of Share Investors that the AGM should decide that the nominations committee should be appointed by the AGM was rejected. The largest shareholders instead intend to allow the nominations process to proceed so that they will each, at the end of the third quarter each year, appoint a member who, together with the chairman of the board, will form the nominations committee. The composition of the nominations committee is to be published in conjunction with the nine-months' interim report.
Statutory board meeting
At the statutory board meeting, Lars Gardo was re-elected as chairman of the board of Tornet. The board decided to present the Interim report January-March 2003 on Friday 25 April 2003.
For further information, please contact: Sverker Lerheden, Managing Director, Fastighets AB Tornet, +46-8-544 905 00 Britt-Marie Einar, IR Manager, Fastighets AB Tornet, +46-8-544 905 08,+46-70-576 92 08
Fastighets AB Tornet is one of Sweden's major listed property companies. Its Swedish holding has a lettable area of around 2.9 million square metres and a book value of approximately SEK 19 billion. Almost 97 per cent of the property holdings, measured as book value, are in Sweden and mainly concentrated in Sweden's six largest cities and in Norrkoping and Karlstad. The properties are owned and managed by the subsidiaries ArosTornet, Malmstaden, MalarTornet, SkansTornet and Euro Tower.
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The following files are available for download:
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/04/24/20030424BIT01910/wkr0001.doc
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/04/24/20030424BIT01910/wkr0002.pdf