Modo Paper's stock market flotation off

Joint press release SCA and Holmen Stockholm 8 March 2000 Modo Paper's stock market flotation off In view of the current stock market valuation of shares in the forest products industry, SCA and Holmen have jointly decided to discontinue their efforts to float Modo Paper on the stock market and broaden its share ownership. The flotation of Modo Paper, in which SCA and Holmen each have a 50 percent interest, was planned for this spring. This decision means that SCA's announced initial public offering (IPO) of 35 percent of the total number of shares in Modo Paper and Holmen's announced distribution of an equivalent number of shares in Modo Paper to its own shareholders will not take place in accordance with the original plans. Modo Paper Modo Paper was formed on October 1, 1999 as the result of a merger of the fine paper activities within SCA and the former MoDo. Modo Paper is Europe's third largest fine paper producer with an output of 1.8 million tons of fine paper and a merchanting business supplying a total of 1.1 million tons of paper. The business includes production in Sweden, Germany, France and Austria and sales offices and merchanting activities in some 20 European countries. The company has approximately 6,800 employees and an annual turnover of some SEK 20 billion. For further information please contact: Michael Bertorp, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, SCA, tel +46 8 788 51 54 Sten Lindholm, Senior VP, Corporate Communications, SCA, tel +46 8 788 51 62 Per Ericson, President and CEO, Holmen, tel +46 8 666 21 00 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/08/20000308BIT00750/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/08/20000308BIT00750/bit0002.pdf