Participation of more than 95%. If offer declared successful, additional acceptance period to start on February 6, 2012.

Zurich, Switzerland, Jan. 31, 2011 - ABB Ltd. (ABBN.VX), the leading power and automation technology group, announced today in the preliminary interim results of its public tender offer for all publicly held registered shares of Newave Energy Holding SA (NWEN.S), a Switzerland based leader in uninterruptible power supply (UPS), a participation of more than 95% of the issued share capital of Newave.

According to the preliminary interim results, as of 16:00 hours on January 30, 2012, by the end of the main offer period (Angebotsfrist), 1,469,630 Newave shares were tendered into the offer. Together with the 1,400,101 Newave shares acquired by ABB from the three main shareholders of Newave under share purchase agreements dated December 11, 2011 (which have not yet been closed) and the 99,603 Newave shares held by Newave or any of its subsidiaries, ABB's participation (Beteiligungsquote) as of the end of the main offer period amounts to 95.02% of the issued share capital of Newave.

The definitive interim results of the offer will be published by ABB on February 3, 2012. If in the definitive interim results ABB declares the offer successful, an additional acceptance period will be set and run, presumably from February 6, 2012 to February 17, 2012, to allow for the tender of Newave shares not tendered during the main offer period.

"We are very pleased with this interim result, which confirms our conviction that this deal creates value for the shareholders of both ABB and Newave, underlining the strategic rationale of the acquisition," said Ulrich Spiesshofer, head of ABB's Discrete Automation and Motion division.

This release is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell securities. Shareholders of Newave are urged to read the offer documents, including the official releases on the results of the offer, which are available at www.abb.com/newaveoffer.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 130,000 people.