Holst Resigns from the Management Board of EWE

Oldenburg, May 21, 2007. Dr Klaus-Ewald Holst, CEO of VNG, has resigned from the Board of Management of the EWE Group with immediate effect. This has been confirmed by EWE today. Last Wednesday Holst rebutted speculation about his resignation.

As the reason for his resignation, Holst referred to “continuing conflicts of interest on the strategic direction” of EWE AG and VNG AG with the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Günther Boekhoff.

EWE CEO, Dr Werner Brinker, announced that the company continued to be committed to its involvement in VNG. Therefore, Heiko Harms, member of the Board of Management of EWE, will continue to be a member of the board of VNG. After the takeover of shares in VNG by EWE January 2004, Holst and Harms were both appointed to the Board of Management of the corresponding other company in March of the same year.