2009-08-12

RS PLATOU VENTURES IN TO REAL ESTATE

RS Platou Finance has for some time looked in to establish a real estate division/subsidiary, and today, RS Platou Finance has signed all necessary agreements in relation to the establishment of RS Platou Real Estate AS (“Real Estate”). Real Estate has hired three employees currently working with Orkla Finans who will join Real Estate on 1 November 2009:

• Lars Robert Kristiansen (42), holding 15 yrs experience from advisory services and asset management. Employed by Orkla since 2005 being responsible for Orkla’s real estate division. Lars holds a BSc in Business Administration from the University of California.

• Hans Martin Haug (39), holding 16 yrs experience from financial advisory services and asset management. Employed by Orkla since 2001. Hans Martin holds an MBA from Norwegian School of Management.

• Stian Nicolaus (35), holding 10 yrs experience from real estate related law. Employed by Orkla since 2005. Stian holds an MSc in law studies from the University of Oslo.

Platou Real Estate will be engaged in real estate projects: brokerage, syndication, structuring and sale, project financing, restructuring of existing real estate companies and other related activities. Due to the similarities of the business and operating models of Platou Real Estate and RS Platou Finance, we expect to see widespread cooperation between the current Platou Finance division and Platou Real Estate as well as significant synergies between Platou Finance and Platou Real Estate with regards to distribution and corporate management.

RS Platou Finance AS will together with RS Platou ASA have control of RS Platou Real Estate AS; however, it will be a partnership model in which the employees will have a significant shareholding.

We wish them all the best and look forward to a new real estate team under the Platou umbrella.