Chesapeake Sends Letter to Shorewood Board.

RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 1999--

Chesapeake Corporation (NYSE: CSK) today sent the following letter to Marc Shore and the board of directors of Shorewood Packaging Corporation (NYSE: SWD) reiterating its desire to be included in their exploration of strategic alternatives:

December 17, 1999

Mr. Marc P. Shore Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer Shorewood Packaging Corporation 277 Park Avenue New York, New York 10172

Dear Marc:

I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Chesapeake. The 14-D9 Shorewood filed yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicates that your Board is exploring alternatives to enhance stockholder value. Your filing also indicates that Shorewood has entered into confidentiality agreements and begun preliminary discussions with third parties, other than Chesapeake, who are interested in pursuing a transaction.

You have told me personally that you and your board believe a combination of our two companies makes strategic sense. Given that Shorewood is exploring strategic alternatives, any process undertaken by the Shorewood Board to enhance shareholder value must include Chesapeake or you would be doing a disservice to your stockholders, as well as your customers and employees.

Chesapeake is a ready, willing and able buyer. As I indicated in an earlier letter, we have in place a fully committed credit facility from First Union National Bank that permits us to complete our acquisitions of both Boxmore and Shorewood on the terms of our offers.

Accordingly, neither offer is subject to any financing conditions.

We reiterate our offer to meet with the Shorewood Board to negotiate the terms, including price and structure, of an acquisition of Shorewood by Chesapeake. Given the importance to your stockholders of our continued interest in Shorewood, we are ready to meet with you and your advisors at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

/s/ Thomas H. Johnson Thomas H. Johnson President & Chief Executive Officer

On December 3, 1999 Chesapeake announced that it would commence a tender offer to acquire all the outstanding shares of Shorewood for $17.25 in cash per share, or approximately $500 million. Chesapeake's tender offer represents an approximate 45% premium to Shorewood's closing stock price on November 9, 1999, the day prior to Chesapeake's initial proposal to Shorewood's board of directors.

Chesapeake Corporation, headquartered in Richmond, Va., is a global leader in specialty packaging and merchandising services. Chesapeake is the largest North American producer of temporary and permanent point-of-purchase displays, the North American leader for litho-laminated packaging, the leading European folding carton, leaflet and label supplier, and a local leader in specific U.S. markets for customized, corrugated packaging. Chesapeake has over 40 locations in North America, Europe and Asia. Chesapeake's net sales in 1998 were $950.4 million. Chesapeake's website is http://www.cskcorp.com .

This news release, including comments by Thomas H. Johnson, contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The accuracy of such statements is subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that may cause Chesapeake's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to: competitive products and pricing; production costs, particularly for raw materials such as corrugated box, folding carton and display materials; fluctuations in demand; government policies and regulations affecting the environment; interest rates; currency translation movements; Year 2000 compliance; and other risks that are detailed from time to time in reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.