Acquisition

ABB Ltd
3 August 2001

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ABB buys minority stake in Swedish software company
US$ 10 million investment expands Industrial(IT) potential

Zurich, Switzerland, August 03, 2001 - ABB, the global technology company, today
announced that it has acquired a minority interest in the Swedish software
maker, Industrial & Financial Systems AB (IFS).

ABB has acquired 3.7% percent of IFS, which represents 1.8% of the voting
rights, through a direct share issue valued at roughly US$ 10 million. The
investment by ABB New Ventures strengthens an existing technical and commercial
alliance between ABB and IFS.

'This partnership completes another important link in our Industrial IT
strategy,' says Jouko Karvinen, executive vice president and head of ABB's
automation technology products division.

'It offers our process and utility customers a comprehensive, real-time solution
across the business value chain. The similarities in software design between ABB
and IFS promise both a smooth integration of each of our technologies, and a
more powerful end product - which is the seamless integration of plant systems
with a full suite of business applications.'

For more than a year, IFS has been developing ways to integrate its business
software, called IFS Applications, with ABB's Industrial IT platform.

ABB signed an agreement with IFS in January, 2001, to resell IFS Applications
components. The two companies have since explored other business collaborations.
For instance, by licensing key Industrial IT components from ABB and inserting
them into the IFS Applications package, IFS can decrease its development costs.

In the long term, cross licensing of systems components between the companies is
expected to decrease research and development costs for both partners. It is a
milestone partnership, with ABB licensing Industrial IT as an enabling component
of third-party software applications, and IFS strengthening integration of its
business systems within a real-time platform.

'ABB will add channels and viability to IFS in the asset intensive process and
utilities industries,' says Bengt Nilsson, CEO of IFS. 'We are creating a
complete, collaborative backbone that will handle the whole spectrum of
automation and information, from boardroom to shopfloor.'

IFS Applications will be 'Industrial IT Enabled' by ABB under certification
standards which ensure connectivity with systems from ABB and licensed third
parties. An integrated ABB/IFS solution is currently in use at the Visy Paper
Mill in Australia, and is being piloted at SCA's Otviken paper mill in Sweden.

About ABB

ABB (www.abb.com) serves manufacturing, process and consumer industries,
utilities, and the oil and gas markets, with 160,000 employees in more than 100
countries.

About IFS

IFS (www.ifsworld.com) develops and supplies business applications that offer
step-by-step evolution to the extended enterprise. The company's more than 60
functional business software components span the entire demand and supply chain
to improve business processes in medium to large companies. IFS is the
fastest-growing large global vendor in the business applications market. The
company has 3,500 employees with products sold in 42 countries through 65
offices around the world.