Result of AGM

ABB Ltd
12 March 2002

ABB shareholders approve annual accounts 2001

Approve discharge of board members and no dividend payment for 2001;
company focuses on increased transparency and corporate governance

Zurich, Switzerland, March 12, 2002 - At its annual general meeting today,
shareholders of ABB Ltd approved annual accounts, the proposal to pay no
dividend for 2001, the discharge of its board of directors and acknowledged the
proposal not to reduce share capital.

ABB's annual general meeting took place in Zurich-Oerlikon, Switzerland. It was
held in German and translated into English for live broadcast over the Internet
and translated into Swedish for shareholders from Sweden. A total of 2,212
shareholders were present at the meeting, representing some 49.3 percent of the
total share capital entitled to vote.

Jurgen Dormann, chairman of ABB's board of directors, ran the meeting alongside
ABB president and CEO Jorgen Centerman and ABB's chief legal counsel Beat Hess.
After some criticism of the board's performance in recent years, shareholders
voted to discharge board members individually.

The discharge included board members not standing for reelection - Percy
Barnevik, Robert Jeker, Gerhard Cromme and Edwin Somm. The board passed on
condolences with regards to board member Agostino Rocca, who died in a plane
crash during 2001.

Shareholders also voted to reelect Jurgen Dormann, Jorgen Centerman, Martin
Ebner and Jacob Wallenberg. They voted to elect four new board members: Roger
Agnelli, Hans Ulrich Maerki, Michel de Rosen and Bernd W. Voss.

Speaking about the reassessment of the pensions and benefits of former ABB CEOs
Percy Barnevik and Goran Lindahl, Dormann said: 'The board of directors takes
the view that it has dealt with this extremely regrettable incident openly and
single-mindedly, to the best of its knowledge and belief, and in the performance
of its duties.

'At the same time the board of directors regrets that the matter has involved
many employees in a substantially increased workload,' he continued. 'But it
links this with the firm conviction that ABB is now once again on a sound
footing and together with the company's many loyal employees can turn to
advantage in the long term the opportunities offered by its outstanding market
position.'

Acknowledging ABB's effort to become more transparent, and in turn strengthen
its commitment to corporate governance, a shareholder request for a special
audit was withdrawn during the course of the meeting.

ABB shareholders took affirmative note of the board's proposal not to reduce
share capital and also voted to accept no dividend payment for 2001. ABB
proposed no dividend be paid in an effort to improve the company's equity
position going forward.

Ernst & Young AG was reelected as auditors and group auditor for the financial
year 2002 and OBT Treuhand AG was reelected as special auditors.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a global leader in power and automation technologies that
enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering
environmental impact. ABB has 155,000 employees in more than 100 countries.


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

 




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