Press release 17 March 2006
For publication at 13.30 p.m.

The S Group expands its leisure services
SOK acquires the Holiday Club spa hotel chain

By an agreement to be signed today, SOK's subsidiary Sokotel Oy will acquire ownership of Holiday Club Finland Oy's six spa hotels in Finland, which provide leisure services. Holiday Club Finland will continue to operate under the name of Holiday Club Resorts and Sokotel's spas will form the Holiday Club Hotels chain.

The transaction will involve the transfer of the Holiday Club chain's hotels Holiday Club Turku, Holiday Club Katinkulta, Holiday Club Kuusamo, Holiday Club Oulu, Holiday Club Saariselkä and Holiday Club Tampere to Sokotel Oy. The spa hotels, which will be wholly owned by Sokotel, will continue to operate under the Holiday Club Hotels name. The spa hotels' annual turnover comes to around EUR 50 million. The acquisition will go forward to be processed by the Finnish Competition Authority, and the aim is to conclude the transaction by the end of April. The approximately 400 employees of the Holiday Club spa hotels will transfer to Sokotel under their current terms of employment.

Holiday Club Resorts Oy will continue by focusing on leisure living and the timeshare business as well as on the operations and development of Holiday Club's spa hotels abroad. Vesa Tengman will continue as Holiday Club Resorts Oy's President and CEO.

According to SOK's Chief Executive Officer, Kari Neilimo, acquiring the spas will be an outstanding way of rounding out the range of leisure services for customer-owners. "Well-being is one of the fastest growing areas of the service sector. The deal will be an excellent means for us to achieve our mission, which is the production of services and benefits for customer-owners. Expanding the hotel and restaurant business is also a profitable capital expenditure that will have discernible effects on SOK Corporation's finances in the immediate future."

Matti Pulkki, Senior Vice President, SOK Hotel and Restaurant Division, says that the company had been seeking a solution on how to expand the leisure sector in line with its strategy. "The Holiday Club spas are a recognised brand with a diverse range, ready holiday destinations and competent staff. In future we will be in a position to supply additional activity and adventure holidays to customer-owners," he says. The acquisition of the spa hotels will serve to support still further the S Group's network of hotels that will continue to operate under the Sokos Hotels, Radisson SAS and Holiday Club Hotels brands.

For Holiday Club Finland Oy, transferring the spa hotels in Finland to Sokotel will enable the company to expand abroad as well as develop locations in Finland. "The transaction will release significant resources for Holiday Club's new projects. We're building new spa and timeshare destinations in line with our growth strategy both in Finland and abroad. Being a part of the well-established S Group will also open up completely new prospects for taking Holiday Club spa hotel operations in Finland even further," says Mr Tengman, Holiday Club Finland Oy's President and CEO.

Sokotel and Holiday Club Resorts have concluded a long-term co-operation agreement that will ensure the continuity and development of Holiday Club's weekly timeshare services. The parties are also engaged in follow-up discussions about international co-operation.

Juha Kivelä will be responsible for Sokotel's chain of Holiday Club Hotels. When the deal is implemented, customer-owners will be able to collect a Bonus on their S Bonus Cards from spa services as from the beginning of the summer.

For further information, please contact:

Matti Pulkki, Senior Vice President, SOK Hotel and Restaurant Division
tel. + 358 10 768 2801, matti.pulkki@sok.fi

Vesa Tengman, President and CEO, Holiday Club Finland Oy
tel. + 358 500 421 515, vesa.tengman@holidayclub.fi

Within SOK Corporation, Sokotel Oy in Finland and AS Sokotel in Estonia operate hotels and restaurants. The S Group's hotel and restaurant business comprises a comprehensive network of 49 hotels and more than 550 restaurants located around Finland. Of the hotels, 39 belong to the Sokos Hotels chain and 7 to the Radisson SAS chain. Outside Finland, the S Group carries on hotel and restaurant operations in Estonia, where Sokos Hotel Viru with its restaurants and a food court that operates in the Prisma hypermarket in the Sikupilli Shopping Centre serve customers. Sokotel Oy's net turnover in 2005 was EUR 158.3 million. Retail sales by the S Group's hotel and restaurant trade totalled EUR 635 million, an increase of 2 per cent on the figure a year earlier. Accommodation sales came to EUR 182 million, restaurant sales amounted to EUR 453 million. The S Group's growth was on a par with the average for the sector, at around the 5 per cent mark. The S Group's market share measured in terms of net turnover by hotels was 24 per cent.
www.s-kanava.fi

Holiday Club Finland Oy is the leading Finnish supplier of leisure travel services. The Holiday Club Finland chain includes six spa hotels in Finland and nine other holiday resorts. The company's first spa hotel outside Finland, Holiday Club Åre, was opened in November 2004 at Åre in Sweden. Holiday Club will open the first full service spa hotel in St. Petersburg in 2007 and a new spa hotel and resort in Tallinn in 2008. Holiday Club is also planning a spa hotel in Himos Leisure Centre in Finland in 2008. Founded in 1986, Holiday Club is one of the biggest time share companies in Europe. Group sales for 2005 totaled € 96 million, of which spa hotel, restaurant, leisure services and treatment services generated two thirds, and time share operations the rest. The Holiday Club chain employs approximately 500 people. The goal of Holiday Club is to become the leading supplier of leisure travel services in the Nordic and Baltic countries. More information: www.holidayclub.fi

All editors and reporters publishing our material are kindly asked to inform us by filling out the form below.

I will use the material above in a publication. The fields with bold text are required.