Suez
April 24, 2003

Fortis Inc. loses long-standing partner.

SUEZ, the lead shareholder of Fortis with 140 million shares
(10.8% ownership stake), has carried out the following
transactions, in concert with the latter:
• 50 million Fortis shares were sold on the market through a
“bought deal,” with a view to a further sale to institutional investors;
• 70 million shares were cashed in through the issue of a
mandatory exchangeable bond into Fortis, carrying an exit
price between 17 euros and 20 euros with a 3 years maturity.
These combined transactions allow the Group to cash in 1.8
billion euros and enable it to reduce net debt by the same
amount.
Following this transaction, SUEZ holds 1.5% of Fortis
capital (20 million shares). This stake constitutes an
underlying position for the exchangeable bond issued in July
2000.
These transactions were carried out at a time when Fortis
shares reached levels close to the share price at the end of
2002.
SUEZ is no longer present on the Board of Directors of
Fortis and thus demonstrates its divestment of this company,
which has been the historical partner of SUEZ.
These transactions demonstrates SUEZ’s will to divest its non-strategic assets before the end of the 2003-2004 action plan.
These transactions have been carried out by UBS Warburg.
SUEZ, a worldwide industrial and services Group, provides
innovative solutions in Energy – electricity and gas – and
the Environment – water and waste services. It generated
2002 revenues of EUR$40.218 billion (excluding energy
trading). The Group is listed on the Euronext Paris,
Euronext Brussels, Luxemburg, Zurich and New York Stock
Exchanges.