Orion Corporation is selling its Soredex business unit to Instrumentarium Corporation

ORION CORPORATION STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE

28 June 2001 at 1.00 p.m.



ORION CORPORATION IS SELLING ITS SOREDEX BUSINESS UNIT TO INSTRUMENTARIUM CORPORATION

Under an agreement signed today Orion Corporation is selling its Soredex business unit specializing in dental imaging systems, to Instrumentarium Corporation. The closing day of the transaction is 1 July 2001.

Soredex develops, manufactures and markets dental X-ray equipment, especially panoramic X-ray equipment and digital X-ray imaging systems.

Soredex's 2000 net sales from dental X-ray area were MEUR 19.1 and the unit employs 165 persons today. Instrumentarium Corporation will employ all the Soredex personnel.

The transaction incorporates all business activities of Orion Corporation Soredex and its US subsidiary Soredex Inc, fixed assets, primarily machines and instruments and real estate in Askola, Finland, inventories as well as the receivables and liabilities.


Finndent to be spun off from Orion Corporation
through a management-buy-out arrangement

Before the Soredex transaction Orion Corporation will sell the Finndent business, a manufacturer of dentist's chairs and dental care units, to a new company to be established by two key persons of Finndent, Tapani Kivelä, R&D Project Manager, and Timo Suonperä, Export Manager, and a third partner Capital Dynamics Oy. Finndent was part of the Soredex business unit of Orion Corporation.

The transaction comprises the fixed assets, inventories and receivables related to the development, assembly, marketing and sales of the Finndent dentist's chairs and dental care units, as well as the rights for the Finndent trademark. Soredex will continue as a supplier of components to Finndent. The closing date of the transaction is 27 June 2001.

11 persons will join the new Finndent company. The net sales of Finndent in 2000 were MEUR 3.2.


Oriola

Soredex including Finndent has operationally been part of the Oriola business division of the Finnish Orion Group. From now on Oriola will concentrate on its core business areas, i.e. pharmaceutical distribution and wholesaling and marketing the healthcare supplies and equipment. In 2000 Oriola's invoicing was MEUR 595 and net sales MEUR 365.