KONE Corporation to Repurchase Own Shares

KONE Corporation's Annual General Meeting held on February 25, 2008 authorized the Board of Directors to repurchase and redistribute the company's own shares. On the basis of this authorization KONE Corporation's Board of Directors has decided to commence repurchasing shares at the earliest on March 7, 2008. The repurchasing of shares will continue until otherwise announced.

The shares may be repurchased in order to develop the capital structure of the Company, finance or carry out possible acquisitions, implement the Company's share-based incentive plans, or to be transferred for other purposes or be cancelled. Altogether no more than 25,570,000 shares may be repurchased, of which no more than 3,810,000 are to be class A shares and 21,760,000 class B shares, taking into consideration the provisions of the Companies Act regarding the maximum amount of own shares that the Company is allowed to possess. The KONE Group currently has 5,231,506 class B shares in its possession.

The minimum and maximum consideration for the shares to be purchased is determined for both class A and class B shares on the basis of the trading price for class B shares determined on the OMX Nordic Exchange Helsinki on the time of purchase.

About KONE

KONE is one of the world’s leading elevator and escalator companies. It provides customers with industry-leading elevators, escalators and innovative solutions for maintenance and modernization. KONE also provides maintenance services for automatic building doors. In 2007, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 4.1 billion and approximately 32,500 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange Helsinki in Finland. www.kone.com

For further information, please contact:

Jukka Ala-Mello, Secretary to the Board, tel. +358 (0)204 75 4226

Sender:

Jukka Ala-Mello
Secretary to the Board of Directors

Minna Mars
Senior Vice President,
Corporate Communications & IR