Swedish Match finalizes sale of South African operation to PMI..

September 15, 2009 - Swedish Match finalizes the sale of its South African operation to Philip Morris International and repurchases own shares.

As announced on July 2, 2009 - Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) has agreed to buy Swedish Match AB's South African (SMSA)_operations for 1.75 billion South African rand, or roughly $222 million.

The sale has now been completed at a sales price of 1.75 billion ZAR plus a preliminary adjustment for cash and working capital amounting to 230 million ZAR (31,045,400 U.S. Dollars).

Swedish Match’s Annual General Meeting on April 28, 2009 authorized the Board of Directors to repurchase own shares for a maximum amount of 3 billion SEK. The Company has so far utilized this mandate to buy back 7,753,645 of its own shares for a total amount of 999,048,981 SEK.

The Company will use proceeds from the sale of SMSA to continue its share buyback program until the Annual General Meeting 2010.

Refernce: Swedish Match finalizes the sale of its South African operation to Philip Morris International and repurchases own shares, Swedish Match, 9/15/2009.