Orkla sells Norweigian forest products companies

The Norwegian conglomerate Orkla is selling the wholly-owned forest companies
Borregaard Skoger AS, AS Borresen and Borregaard Vafos AS to Statskog for a
total of NOK 1 725 million writes Orkla in a pressrelease after a broad process with strong competition and a number of attractive offers.

The Norwegian State Forest Company Statskog bought at exorbitant prices to stop Swedish companies to buy Norweigian forest.The sale covers approximately 1.1 million decares, of which around 750 000 decares are productive forest land. The transaction also encompasses Borregaard Skoger's equity interest in Statskog-Borregaard Skogsdrift (SB Skog). The transaction is subject to approval by Stortinget (the Norwegian
Parliament). Completion of the transaction also assumes approval by the
Norwegian Competition Authority.