Change of CEO at Rautaruukki

Rautaruukki Corporation Stock exchange release 27 August 2014 at 3pm EEST

Change of CEO at Rautaruukki

Rautaruukki's new Board of Directors has appointed Olavi Huhtala, EVP and Head of SSAB Europe, as Rautaruukki's new chief executive officer with effect from 1 September 2014. He will serve as CEO in addition to his own position. Sakari Tamminen, the company's current chief executive officer and chairman of the Corporate Executive Board, will continue to serve the company until the end of the year in matters involving the combination of Ruukki and SSAB, and will exercise his right to retire at the beginning of 2015. Rautaruukki became a subsidiary of SSAB on 29 July 2014.

During the transition period, Tamminen will assist, among other things, in the divestment of assets as required by the regulatory competition approval granted by the European Commission for the combination of SSAB and Ruukki, and in customer relationship management.

Sakari Tamminen has served as Rautaruukki's President & CEO since joining the company in 2003. He previously served as Executive VP and CFO, and deputy to the president and CEO at Metso Corporation (1999-2003) and as Executive VP and CFO, and deputy to the president and CEO at Rauma Corporation (1991-1999).

During Tamminen's term of office, Ruukki has internationalised and focused strongly on special steels, which now account for more than one third of Ruukki Metals' net sales. Ruukki has also evolved into a steel construction actor in the Nordic countries, Eastern Europe and Russia. Recent years have also seen the addition of new energy-efficient innovations to the company's product portfolio.

During his tenure as CEO, Tamminen also has served in key positions of influence in Finnish business including being a member and chairman of the board of the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK and a board member of the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries. His numerous elected positions internationally included posts on the boards of the World Steel Association and Eurofer.

"On behalf of myself and Rautaruukki's entire Board of Directors, I would like to thank Sakari sincerely for making Ruukki a well-known and acclaimed actor in the steel construction and special steels sectors. He has done an excellent job in a challenging international business environment. The company underwent major restructuring during the early part of the 2000s and proceeds from divestments were invested in developing the special steels business. In addition to this, the company was able to pay over EUR 1.3 billion in dividends to its shareholders over the past ten years," sums up Kim Gran, who served as chairman of the company's Board of Directors.

Rautaruukki Corporation

Taina Kyllönen
SVP, Marketing and Communications

Rautaruukki is now part of SSAB (publ) ("SSAB"), a steel company with global reach which has its main production plants in Sweden, Finland and the United States. The company's steel business is structured around four divisions - SSAB Special Steels, SSAB Europe, SSAB Americas and the steel distribution partner Tibnor, and one division, Ruukki Construction, which focuses on the construction business. Rautaruukki's share is quoted on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. SSAB's shares are quoted on NASDAQ OMX Nordic Stockholm and NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. www.ssab.com. www.ruukki.com.

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www.ruukki.com

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Source: Rautaruukki Oyj via Globenewswire

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