Bjørn Wiggen to take over as President and CEO...

Bjørn Wiggen (49) has been appointed President and CEO of Sapa and
will assume the new position in the course of April. This appointment
has been made in conjunction with President and CEO Ole Enger (61)
taking over as CEO of the Renewable Energy Corporation (REC), in
which Orkla is the largest shareholder with a stake of 39.73 per
cent.


Bjørn Wiggen has a MBA from the Norwegian School of Economics and
Business Administration (NHH). Mr Wiggen has extensive experience in
international industry. From 1996 to 1998 he was CEO of Pripps
Bryggerier in Sweden, after which he held key positions in Carlsberg
Breweries from 2001 to 2005, which included responsibility for
running and developing the Group's breweries in Central and Eastern
Europe. Mr Wiggen was head of Orkla Media/Mecom Europe from 2005 to
2007, and from 2008 Managing Director of Elkem, which is also part of
the Orkla Group.

"I am really looking forward to starting work at Sapa. My role as
member of Sapa's Board of Directors in the past year has enabled me
to get to know this exciting company with a very strong, competent
organisation. The strategy that Sapa has laid out in the past few
years entailing the further development of Profiles, Building System
and Heat Transfer on the basis of a decentralised structure remains
unchanged. I see a number of proactive opportunities for further
developing Sapa in the direction of customer-focused solutions, and
for expanding through acquisitions. However, our main concern in the
short term is to deal with the extremely challenging market
situation," says Bjørn Wiggen.

"My time at Sapa has been fantastic," declares Ole Enger. "I have
great respect for the company, its employees and its strong market
positions. Bjørn Wiggen has all the qualifications to do an excellent
job of leading Sapa to future growth."

"On behalf of Sapa's Board of Directors I would like to thank Ole
Enger for his dedicated efforts and contribution to value creation in
the company. He has helped to move Sapa forward in a positive way. I
wish Ole Enger and Bjørn Wiggen every success in their new roles,"
says Dag J. Opedal, President and CEO of Orkla and Chairman of Sapa's
Board of Directors.

Given his new role as President and CEO of REC, Ole Enger will
withdraw from Orkla. Bjørn Wiggen will remain in Orkla's Group
Executive Board with responsibility for Sapa and Elkem. He will
become Chairman of Elkem's Board of Directors while Helge Aasen has
been appointed Managing Director of Elkem.



Sapa and Elkem are fully owned companies in the Orkla Group. For more
information - go to
www.sapagroup.com and www.elkem.com.


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