Vacon - Company Announcement

American Superconductor Corporation and The Switch shareholders amend purchase agreement

Vacon Plc, Stock Exchange Release, 1 July 2011 at 9 am


American Superconductor Corporation and The Switch Engineering Oy shareholders
have made, on 29 June 2011, an amendment to the definitive purchase agreement
dated 12 March 2011 to transfer all of the shares in The Switch Engineering Oy
to American Superconductor Corporation.

Under the terms of this amended agreement, on 29 June 2011, American
Superconductor Corporation paid The Switch Engineering Oy shareholders 7.5
percent of the agreement's aggregate EUR 190 million purchase price, or
approximately EUR 14.2 million, as an advance payment.

Vacon owns directly 14% of the shares of The Switch Engineering and has a
further 5% holding in The Switch Engineering through the investment fund Power
Fund I.

The completion date of the agreement has been extended to 30 September 2011,
with the option for two additional 30-day extensions through 30 November 2011 to
allow American Superconductor Corporation time to secure the necessary financing
for the completion of the transaction.

If the acquisition is not completed by 30 November 2011, the aforementioned EUR
14.2 million advance payment would be retained by The Switch Engineering Oy
shareholders as the break-up fee if certain agreed conditions are fulfilled.

Vacon Plc

Further information:

  * Vesa Laisi, President and CEO, Vacon Plc, tel. +358 40 8371 510, email
    vesa.laisi(at)vacon.com
  * Sebastian Linko, Director, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations,
    Vacon Plc, tel. +358 40 8371 634, email sebastian.linko(at)vacon.com

Vacon in brief:

Vacon is driven by a passion to design, manufacture and sell only the best AC
drives on the planet - and nothing else. AC drives can be used to control
electric motors or to help generate power from renewable sources. Vacon has R&D
and production units in Finland, the United States, China and Italy, and sales
offices in 27 countries. In 2010, Vacon had revenues of EUR 338 million and
globally employed 1,300 people. Vacon's shares (VAC1V) are listed and publicly
traded on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Driven by Drives, www.vacon.com

Distribution:

NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Financial Supervisory Authority
Main Media


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