Extraordinary General Meeting Of OM Shareholders On Account Of The Merger Between OM And HEX

OM's Board of Directors has, on account of OM's public offer to the shareholders and warrant holders of HEX, decided to propose that an extraordinary general meeting of OM shareholders authorize the Board of Directors to decide on the issuance of a maximum of 31,785,027 new shares to be used as consideration in the offer. As previously announced, OM offers 2.5 new shares in OM for each share in HEX.

The Board of Directors has also decided to propose that an extraordinary general meeting decide on the introduction of an incentive program for key employees of the combined company by way of the issue of a debenture with 1,150,000 detachable warrants, such warrants entitling their holders to subscribe for a maximum of 1,150,000 shares. The warrants shall be offered certain key employees at market price.

Further, the Board of Directors has decided to convene an extraordinary general meeting of OM on August 18, 2003, at which, among other things, the above mentioned proposals will be dealt with. Further information on the Board's proposals is given in the attached notice of the extraordinary general meeting. The notice will be published in the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter and the Official Gazette (Post- och Inrikes Tidningar) on July 14, 2003.

Finally, Bengt Rydén has notified the Board of Directors of his decision to leave to Board provided that the proposed combination with HEX is completed.