Aspo - Company Announcement

ESL SHIPPING SIGNS EUR 25 MILLION LOAN AGREEMENT

ASPO Plc STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE August 12, 2010 at 14:00

ESL Shipping Ltd, part of Aspo Group, has signed a ship financing agreement with
Pohjola Bank plc totalling EUR 25 million. The maturity of the loan is 12 years.
The agreement now signed will be used to finance the first EUR 30 million
supramax vessel the company has ordered from the Korean Hyundai Mipo Dockyard
Co. Ltd. The vessel will have a carrying capacity of 56,150 dwt. The two
supramax vessels ordered from Korea by ESL Shipping are scheduled to be in
traffic in the first half of 2012.

ESL Shipping transports dry bulk cargoes, mainly in the Baltic Sea region;
approximately 11 million tons in 2009. The steel industry's share of transports
was 53 percent, and the energy industry represented 43 percent. The shipping
company's fleet consists of 17 vessels, of which it owns 14 in full. Two are
leased and one is partially owned. The total dead weight tonnage of the vessels
is approximately 200,000 tons. In addition, the shipping company will also take
delivery of a new vessel in the fall of 2010. The approximately 20,000 dwt
vessel has been ordered from India.

ASPO Plc

Aki Ojanen
CEO

Further information:
Harri Seppälä, Group Treasurer, Aspo Plc, +358 9 5211 or +358 400 617 201
harri.seppala(a)aspo.com

Distribution:
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Key media
www.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.




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