ACCO Brands Corporation to Prepay $25 Million in Debt.

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. -- ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ABD), a world leader in branded office products, announced today that it will prepay $25 million of debt before the end of the month.

"Our ability to prepay additional debt is a reflection of our strong cash position," said Neal V. Fenwick, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "We began 2006 with more than $90 million in cash, allowing us to prepay $24 million of debt in January and an additional $25 million this month. We now have greater visibility on the timing of cash restructuring and integration charges relating to the former ACCO World and General Binding Corporation office products businesses, and we are confident that our cash position will remain robust throughout 2006."

Specifically, the company today announced it will pay down $25 million of its U.S. Dollar Senior Secured Term Loan Credit Facility before the end of the month. After making this payment, the company will have reduced the principal amount outstanding under its senior secured credit facilities by $55 million from the $600 million outstanding at the time they were originated.

"Because our businesses are strong generators of cash, we intend to increase shareholder value when opportunities present themselves by improving our balance sheet and making investments in integration, product innovation and strategic positioning of our businesses," Fenwick continued. "We believe that the opportunity to retire a portion of our debt is an excellent use of our currently available cash."

About ACCO Brands Corporation

ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ABD) is a world leader in branded office products, with annual revenues of nearly $2 billion. Its industry-leading brands include Day-Timer(R), Swingline(R), Kensington(R), Quartet(R), GBC(R), Rexel(R), and Wilson Jones(R), among others. Under the GBC brand, the company is also a leader in the professional print finishing market.

Forward-Looking Statements 

This press release contains, and other periodic reports and press releases of the Company may contain, certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and is including this statement for purposes of invoking these safe harbor provisions. These forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe future plans, strategies and expectations of the Company, are generally identifiable by use of the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan" or similar expressions. The Company's ability to predict results or the actual effect of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain. Because actual results may differ from those predicted by such forward-looking statements, you should not rely on such forward-looking statements when deciding whether to buy, sell or hold the Company's securities. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the future. Among the factors that could cause plans, actions and results to differ materially from current expectations are: fluctuations in cost and availability of raw materials; competition within the markets in which the Company operates; the effects of both general and extraordinary economic, political and social conditions; the dependence of the Company on certain suppliers of manufactured products; the effect of consolidation in the office products industry; the risk that businesses that have been combined into the Company as a result of the merger with General Binding Corporation will not be integrated successfully; the risk that targeted cost savings and synergies from the aforesaid merger and other previous business combinations may not be fully realized or take longer to realize than expected; disruption from business combinations making it more difficult to maintain relationships with the Company's customers, employees or suppliers; foreign exchange rate fluctuations; the development, introduction and acceptance of new products; the degree to which higher raw material costs, and freight and distribution costs, can be passed on to customers through selling price increases and the effect on sales volumes as a result thereof; increases in health care, pension and other employee welfare costs; as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC filings.