Disposal

ABB Ltd
16 January 2004

ABB finalizes agreement to sell part of Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals division for
US$ 925 million

Zurich, Switzerland, January 16, 2004 - ABB, the leading power and automation
technology group, said today it has finalized the agreement to sell the upstream
part of its Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals division to a newly incorporated company
formed by a private equity investors' consortium of Candover Partners Ltd, 3i
and JPMorgan Partners. ABB expects to record a small capital gain on the initial
sale price of US$ 925 million.



The agreement also includes a potential deferred consideration of an additional
amount of up to US$ 50 million.



'This divestment agreement marks a further, decisive step to increase the focus
on our core businesses and to finalize our divestment program,' said Peter
Voser, ABB's chief financial officer.



A preliminary agreement on the deal was announced in late October 2003. The
divestment is subject to the customary regulatory approvals and closing
conditions, as well as the satisfactory completion and disposition of compliance
matters under review. The closing is expected mid-year 2004.



ABB is selling its United States-based Vetco Gray unit and its ABB Offshore
Systems business, headquartered in Norway. These upstream businesses are active
in more than 30 countries and employ some 7,500 people, mainly in Brazil,
Canada, Norway, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the U.S., with total revenues
in 2002 of US$ 1.7 billion.



Not included in the sale is ABB Lummus Global, which is mainly a downstream
business. ABB said it is continuing negotiations with several parties to sell
Lummus Global, and expects to complete the sale in 2004.



ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable
utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering
environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100
countries and employs about 120,000 people.


                                                                              

                                                                              

                                                                              
Media Relations:                               Investor Relations:
ABB Corporate Communications, Zurich           Switzerland: Tel. [phone]
Thomas Schmidt                                 Sweden: Tel. [phone]
Tel:  [phone]                          USA: Tel. [phone]
Fax: [phone]                           [e-mail]
[e-mail]




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange