19 May 2009 The rating agency Moody's Investors Service has announced that the C+ bank financial strength rating (BFSR) of Nykredit Bank A/S has been placed on review for possible downgrade. The Aa3/Prime-1 deposit ratings of Nykredit Bank were left unchanged with stable outlook. See Moody's announcement below. Contacts Kim Duus, Group Managing Director, tel +45 44 55 10 25, or Nels Petersen, Head of Corporate Communications, tel +45 44 55 14 70/+45 20 22 22 72. Moody's reviews Nykredit Bank's C+ BFSR for downgrade (Denmark) London, 19 May 2009 -- Moody's Investors Service has today placed the C+ bank financial strength rating (BFSR) of Nykredit Bank A/S on review for possible downgrade. The Aa3/Prime-1 debt and deposit ratings of Nykredit Bank and the Aa3 issuer rating of Nykredit Realkredit were left unchanged with stable outlook. Moody's rating action follows the announcement that Forstaedernes Bank (unrated) will be merged into Nykredit Bank over the next year. Both banks are currently owned by Nykredit Realkredit. Forstaedernes Bank is a regional Danish bank with a focus on retail lending and savings in Greater Copenhagen. Prior to its acquisition by Nykredit Realkredit in October 2008 for DKK1.8 billion, it had also rapidly expanded its lending into property development and management to account for 26% of its total portfolio by the end of 2008. Forstaedernes Bank had total assets at the end of March 2009 of DKK32.9 billion (3% of the balance of Nykredit Realkredit and 16% of the balance of Nykredit Bank). Forstaedernes Bank had posted a pre-tax loss of DKK 1.6billion in 2008 and DKK 0.8billion for Q1 2009 due to increased impairments. Nykredit Bank is the banking arm of Nykredit Group and for Q1 2009 it accounted for approximately 20% of the group pre-tax profit. It has a good standalone franchise providing loans to Danish retail and corporate clients with a market share of around 3% in Denmark and is one of the five largest banks in Denmark in terms of assets. Moody's recognises that the merger of the two banking operations in the Nykredit Group will create some synergies. However, Forstaedernes Bank has historically had weaker financial fundamentals than those of Nykredit Bank. The rating review will therefore focus on the combined group's earnings potential going forward, incorporating an assessment of potential cost synergies and whether the franchise of Forstaedernes Bank has been damaged in relation to the large levels of provisioning. The review will also examine the risk in the combined entity due to the different risk levels of the two banks as well as projections for asset quality going forward in light of the negative macroeconomic developments in Denmark . Finally, the review will look at the capitalisation of the combined entity and also the level of support implied by the parent company. Moody's last rating action on Nykredit Bank was on 8 May 2007, when the Aa3/Prime-1/C+ ratings with stable outlook were assigned. The principal methodologies used in rating Nykredit Bank are "Bank Financial Strength Ratings: Global Methodology" (February 2007) and "Incorporation of Joint-Default Analysis into Moody's Bank Ratings: A Refined Methodology" (March 2007), which can be found at www.moodys.com in the Credit Policy & Methodologies directory, in the Ratings Methodologies sub-directory. Other methodologies and factors that may have been considered in the process of rating this issuer can also be found in the Credit Policy & Methodologies directory. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Nykredit Bank posted total assets of DKK205 billion (EUR28 billion) at the end of March 2009.