Swedish Match Board of Directors Calls for Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting

9/26/2000 4:45 AM EST

Swedish Match Board of Directors Calls for Extraordinary Shareholders
Meeting

17.4 Million Shares Repurchased by Company are Proposed to Be Cancelled

Requesting Authorization to Repurchase an Additional Maximum of 10 per
cent of the shares of the Company

At an extra meeting with the Board of Directors today, the Board of
Swedish Match has decided to call an extraordinary shareholders' meeting
th
on October 27 2000. At the shareholders' meeting it is proposed that a
decision will be made to reduce the share capital by canceling 17,350,210
repurchased shares, equivalent to 4.3 per cent of the number of shares of
Swedish Match.

It is further proposed that the authorization, which was granted the Board
at the ordinary shareholders' meeting, to repurchase shares to the extent
that the company holds at any one time not more than 5 percent of the
shares of the Company, be increased to a maximum of 10 percent of the
shares of the Company.

To date, over 20 million shares have been repurchased at an average price
of 29.47 SEK. The number of shares outstanding amounts to 383,829,891 as
of September 25, 2000.

Swedish Match is an international group with its head office in Stockholm.
The company manufactures a broad range of products within the OTP (Other
Tobacco Products) category, with smokeless tobacco as its core business
along with cigars and pipe tobacco, as well as matches and lighters. The
products are sold in approximately 140 countries. Sales for the twelve
months period ending June 30, 2000 amounted to approximately 10,200 SEK.
Swedish Match is listed on OM Stockholm Stock Exchange (SWMA) and on
NASDAQ (SWMAY).

For further information, please contact:

Lennart Sundén, President & Chief Executive office +46 8 658 01 75
Officer

Sven Hindrikes, Executive Vice President & office +46 8 658 02 82
Chief Financial Officer mobile +46 70 567 41 76

Bo Aulin, Senior Vice President Corporate office +46 8 658 03 64
Affairs,
Secretary & General Counsel mobile +46 70 558 0364

Emmett Harrison, Vice President Investor office +46 8 658 01 73
Relations
mobile +46 709 38 01 73