Swedish Match agrees to sell South African operations to Philip Morris International

Swedish Match AB [publ] announced today that it has reached an agreement to sell its South African operations, Swedish Match South Africa (Proprietary) Limited (“SMSA”) to Philip Morris International [NYSE/Euronext Paris: PMI] (“PMI”) for a purchase price amounting to 1.75 billion ZAR.

The transaction is subject to approval by the South African Competition Authority and is expected to be completed during the second half of 2009.

SMSA is the South African leader in OTP (other tobacco products), with a No. 1 position in the pipe tobacco category through the well-recognized Boxer and Best Blend brands; SMSA also has a No. 2 position in the nasal snuff category with its Taxi brand. In 2008 the pipe tobacco and nasal snuff businesses had total sales of 687 million ZAR.

“This agreement with Philip Morris International is in line with Swedish Match’s strategy to focus on smokefree tobacco, cigars and lights products. SMSA will continue to be a strong player in South Africa and we believe that PMI will benefit significantly from its deeply-entrenched and highly-recognized brands and its dedicated people” said Lars Dahlgren, President and CEO of Swedish Match AB.

SMSA will continue to distribute lighters, matches and cigars for Swedish Match.
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In accordance with the resolution at the Annual General Meeting, Swedish Match has on 18 May 2009 decreased the Company’s share capital by 6,110,045.76 SEK through cancellation of 4,000,000 treasury shares and has through a bonus issue increased the share capital with the equivalent amount without issuing new shares.

After the cancellation and further repurchase of shares, the Company’s number of treasury shares amount to 3,750,000. The total number of shares outstanding, including shares held in treasury, amounts to 251,000,000 shares equivalent to the same amount of votes.