Aspo - Company Announcement

ESL Shipping signs EUR 10 million ship financing agreement

ASPO Plc       STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE   April 7, 2014, at 16.15

ESL SHIPPING SIGNS EUR 10 MILLION SHIP FINANCING AGREEMENT

ESL Shipping Ltd, part of Aspo Group, has today on April 7, 2014, signed a EUR
10 million ship financing agreement with Pohjola Bank plc. The loan will be
repaid in one installment after four years.

The agreed loan will finance a ship transaction announced in January 2014, in
which ESL Shipping acquired the full ownership of a 20,000 dwt dry cargo vessel
that it owned previously in part. The vessel was renamed m/s Kallio. Upon
implementation, the vessel transaction was financed from Aspo Plc's financing
sources, and with the agreement signed now, the financing is converted into
long-term vessel financing."Being part of the Aspo conglomerate, the financing terms of ESL Shipping are
better than those of an independent shipping company. We are very satisfied with
ESL Shipping's total financing and the m/s Kallio agreement that has now been
signed ", says Mikki Koskinen, Managing Director of ESL Shipping.

ESL Shipping is the leading dry bulk sea transport company operating in the
Baltic Sea region. The shipping company's fleet consists of 15 vessels, of which
it owns 13 in full. One is leased and one is time-chartered.

ASPO Plc

Aki Ojanen
CEO

For further information, please contact:
Harri Seppälä, Group Treasurer Aspo Plc, +358 9 521 4035, +358 400 106 592, e-
mail harri.seppala(a)aspo.com.

Aspo is a conglomerate that owns and develops business operations in the Baltic
Sea region focusing on demanding B-to-B customers. Our strong company brands -
ESL Shipping, Leipurin, Telko and Kaukomarkkinat - aim to be the market leaders
in their sectors. They are responsible for their own operations, customer
relationships and the development of these. Together they generate Aspo's
goodwill. Aspo's Group structure and business operations are continually
developed without any predefined schedules.

DISTRIBUTION:
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
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