Acquisition of Interest

Viking Internet PLC
25 May 2000





25 May 2000                                                                   
                                                                 
VIKING INTERNET ACQUIRES STAKE IN BESTINO 

Viking Internet plc has paid £220,000 (3m Swedish Krona) for a 3.2 per cent
stake in Bestino Holding AB, an IT Application Service Provider (ASP). This
brings Viking Internet's investments to five.         

Bestino aims to offer its customers a one-stop IT management service in the
fast-growing ASP market, and is about to open its first IP-Com Center(. The
company has traded profitably since it was founded in September 1998. It
operates in partnership with UUNet, Hewlett Packard and Microsoft, has
recruited a well-qualified team, has a growing customer base, and expects to
maintain break even this year on a projected turnover of £3 million, despite
the current expansion. 

Current customers include Ericsson Radio, Ericsson Data, Unisys, Dell
Computer, Hermes Railtel International, Wayne Recruitment and the Swedish
police. Bestino's long-term strategy is to develop a European network of
IP-Com Centers( as other countries catch up with the growth of IT
infrastructure which has occurred in Sweden and the rest of the Nordic Region.

Viking Internet's stake was taken as Bestino was raising £1.08 million (15m
SEK) in a private placing to raise funds for the next phase of development.
Viking Internet took 20 per cent of the placing; a co-investor was the
University of Stockholm, which took one third of the offer. 

Viking Internet's Executive Chairman, Erik Wachtmeister, said in London today
'Bestino is typical of the sort of growing company we invest in. It offers a
highly focussed IT service aimed at keeping its customer sites operational
virtually 100 per cent of the time. Its mix of consulting, hosting and
security services gives it a competitive edge, and its projected 10 per cent
net profit rate after completion of the current expansion phase is
attractive.'