SAMPO PLC STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE
9 November 2006 at 9:00
Sampo plc has today signed an agreement to sell all Sampo Bank plc's shares to Danske Bank A/S. The cash consideration is EUR 4,050 million. Before the closing of the transaction Sampo Bank will pay a dividend of EUR 25 million to Sampo plc. Sampo Group will book a sales gain of approximately EUR 2.9 billion from the transaction. The sales gain is not taxable for Sampo plc and the transaction will increase the Group's equity capital from EUR 4.6 billion to EUR 7.5 billion. The transaction requires the necessary approvals, which are expected to be received in the beginning of 2007.
Sampo Bank will continue to operate under its current name. The transaction has no effect on customer relationships.
Sampo Bank Group consists of Sampo Bank plc in Finland and its subsidiary banks in the Baltic countries and Russia and a number of investment services companies, the most important of which are Mandatum Asset Management Ltd, Sampo Fund Management Ltd, Mandatum & Co Ltd. and Mandatum Securities Ltd. The bank and investment services reported a pre-tax profit of EUR 279 million in January-September 2006, which was approximately 31 per cent of Sampo Group's total pre-tax profit. The operations included in the transaction covered 25 per cent of Sampo Group's total net assets at 30 September 2006.
Sampo Group's other business areas, P&C insurer If and life insurance company Sampo Life, continue to follow their current strategies. Sampo Group is the leading Nordic insurer with an annual premium income of EUR 3.5 billion in P&C insurance and EUR 600 million in life insurance. Sampo Group is also one of the largest investors in the Nordic region. The transaction increases the Group's investment assets from EUR 16 billion to EUR 20 billion.
Sampo Bank, the new owner of which will be Danske Bank, and Sampo Life have today signed a co-operation agreement that secures for Sampo Life the right to sell life and pension insurance products through Sampo Bank's branch network also in the future.
Mika Ihamuotila, President and CEO of Sampo Bank plc, will continue in his present role until the closing of the transaction, after which he will join Sampo plc and continue as a member of the Group Executive Board.
Roschier, Attorneys Ltd and Krogerus, Attorneys Ltd are acting as Sampo's legal advisors on this transaction, the former in general transactional issues and the latter in IT issues. Sampo's financial adviser is JPMorgan.
Sampo plc will arrange a press conference today at 10.30 am (Unioninkatu 22, Helsinki) on the transaction and on the third quarter 2006 results and an English-language telephone conference for investors and analysts at 12.30 p.m. Finnish time(for details see www.sampo.com/ir).
SAMPO PLC
Jarmo Salonen
Head of investor relations
For more information, please contact:
Peter Johansson, Group CFO, tel. +358 10 516 0010
Jarmo Salonen, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 10 516 0030
Hannu Vuola, Head of Group Communications, tel. +358 10 516 0040
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