Asbestos agreement

ABB Ltd
17 January 2003

ABB and Combustion Engineering reach asbestos agreement

Zurich, Switzerland, January 17, 2003 - ABB and its U.S. subsidiary Combustion
Engineering (CE) today announced they had agreed a pre-packaged bankruptcy plan
for CE with representatives of asbestos plaintiffs, a significant milestone in
the process to resolve CE's asbestos liability.

The agreement in principle on a pre-pack asbestos bankruptcy plan for CE was
reached with the proposed futures representative, David Austern, as well as with
attorneys who ABB and CE expect to act on behalf of a sufficient number of
current claimants to approve the plan. A trust, set up under the plan, will
handle claims filed after a pre-packed Chapter 11 reorganization has been
approved in court.

Once documentation on the agreement in principle has been completed, the plan
will be subject to a vote by asbestos claimants. ABB and CE expect to send the
plan out for vote early next week. If sufficient claimants approve the pre-pack
Chapter 11 plan, it will be filed in bankruptcy court for final approval.

Under the agreement, the value of Combustion Engineering on the due date will be
made available for the payment of asbestos claims. At the end of September 2002,
CE's value was US$ 812 million.

In addition, ABB agreed to provide an enhanced payment for the benefit of
claimants in the form of ABB stock and cash. The cash payments are to be made in
pre-agreed installments from 2004 to 2009.

These cash payments for CE's asbestos liability could total up to US$ 350
million, comprised of US$ 250 million that are not dependent upon ABB's future
performance and US$100 million that are performance-related. An additional US$
50 million in ABB stock will also be contributed at specified prices prevailing
during the last quarter of 2002.

With this agreement, CE and ABB are on schedule to file a pre-pack bankruptcy
case in court for CE before the end of February, aiming to provide final closure
to the asbestos problem to CE and all ABB affiliates, including ABB Ltd.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable
utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering
environmental impacts. The ABB Group of companies operates in more than 100
countries and employs about 146,000 people.




The company will host a conference call for analysts, media and investors at 9:
00 Central European Time. Teleconference callers should dial [phone] in
Europe and [phone] in the U.S. and Canada.

The audio playback of the conference call will be available for 120 hours after
the call commencing two hours after the conference call on [phone]
(Europe) and [phone] in the U.S. and Canada. The PIN number is 050#.



This press release includes forward-looking information and statements that are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ.
These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections
about global economic conditions, the economic conditions of the regions and
industries that are major markets for ABB Ltd and ABB Ltd's lines of business.
These expectations, estimates and projections are generally identifiable by
statements containing words such as 'expects', 'believes', 'estimates' or
similar expressions. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expectations include, among others, economic and market
conditions in the geographic areas and industries that are major markets for
ABB's businesses, market acceptance of new products and services, changes in
governmental regulations, interest rates, fluctuations in currency exchange
rates and such other factors as may be discussed from time to time in ABB's
filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although ABB Ltd
believes that its expectations reflected in any such forward-looking statement
are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that those
expectations will be achieved.




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